


The Mirror's Edge

by Aeregele



Series: Hidden [2]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Helium is pretty much implied but you can tell Henry is heartbroken, M/M, Michael likes to keep secrets, Suicidal Thoughts, posting the first chapter to celebrate my birthday!!!, robots!, things get a little weird in this one, wow these assholes are back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-07-11 02:03:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 38,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15962336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeregele/pseuds/Aeregele
Summary: “Holy shit…” he whispered to himself, noticing the surface of the jaws had started to writhe and twist like living flesh. The lights of its eyes lit up every small detail of the surface like the wetness of bloodied flesh and the strands of sinew.





	1. Chapter 1

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* * *

 

Michael walked around the livingroom, the lights in the house were still turned off but the sun’s slowly rising light peeking through the sliding glass door lit up the room just enough for him to see the sofa and recliner on either side of a glass coffee table and flatscreen.

This place hasn’t changed at all. Has it really been abandoned?

“Ready to start exploring?” Mark asked, walking up to his friend.

“Yeah.”

The two started to walk around the living room, examining papers and books that they found. “Hey,” Mark started, “this is recent.” He picked up a piece of paper, it’s a list and most things were crossed out.

 

**July’s To Do List |  --. .- .. -... .**

  * ~~Call therapist --  JESSY -- Ask about Michael/William~~
  * Clear boxes out from attic
  * ~~Clean garage~~
  * PROPERLY CLEAN GARAGE
  * Check basement -- probably clean
  * ~~Restock fridge~~
  * ~~Restock the pizzeria~~
  * Fix Foxy
  * ~~Repair Bonnie’s guitar.~~
  * ~~Take over night shift.~~
  * ~~Make sure to sleep before day shift starts.~~
  * __Forgive yourself.__



 

Mark ignored the last one. He wasn’t sure what it was supposed to mean but it made his heart drop the more he looked at it.

The boys jumped, nearly screaming when the front door was slammed. Mark quickly dropped the list and turned around. Henry stood in the foyer, furious and confused.

“ _Why the hell are you here?!”_ He shouted.

“Why are _you_ here?!” Michael shouted back, taking a step backwards as he stared at Henry with cautious silver eyes.

_“I live here, ya nut-scooper!”_

“Oh…” Mark stuttered, “S-sorry, Henry, I guess … _we kinda broke into your house_.”

Henry turned the living room light on (not that he needed to) and walked over to the two friends.

“You’re not going to break our legs, are you?” Mark asked, pushing Michael back behind him. His friend glared at him, but didn’t argue.

“You’re not here to rob me?”

“No?”

“Then no,” Henry huffed. “Why are you here?”

“Father, or someone, left a message,” Michael explained, “I’ve spent a while decoding it and it said something about a thing being here for me.”

“Could’ve at least called me.” Henry tossed his keys onto the coffee table and took off the uniform jacket the night guards at Freddy’s usually wear.

“We didn’t know you lived here still,” Mark said, “when we walked in we assumed the place had been preserved and no one lived here.”

Henry raised a brow. “So you were going to snoop into my life even more without telling me?”

“Well… I mean…”

Mark couldn’t find the words to say anything, so Michael finished for him. “Yes.”

Henry stared at the two friends with wide eyes and an agape mouth. His silvery-blue eyes were filled with what looked like rage… yet still confusion. His eyes darted between the two before he closed them and his mouth. He stood and thought for a second, punching the bridge of his nose.

“What I’m I supposed to do now?” He asked, eyebrows so high they could fly off his forehead. “I need to take a nap before I open the pizzeria and y’all need to go back home.”

“We can stay here?” Michael offered. “I want to explore the house after I’ve been gone for so long.”

“Ten years _is_ a long time,” Mark backed up his friend.

“Fine,” Henry threw up his hands. “Fine! Fine.” He shook his head and went for the stairs. “Explore all you want, just wake me up in an hour. I’ll make sure to pay you overtime too by the way.” He tiredly stomped up the stairs, not saying anymore as he shut his door.

“Explore?” Mark lightly elbowed his friend.

“Sure,” Michael smiled and elbowed his friend back, but much harder.

Mark rubbed his arm as he followed Michael up the stairs. “ _Ow_ …”

Michael opened the first door they came across revealing a decently sized room. It barely looked like someone was still living in it. A queen-sized bed was pushed against the far corner of the room, the sheets on it placed haphazardly and the pillows squished into the corner. There was no bed frame, just two mattresses stacked on top one another. Michael smiled and walked over to the bed, falling down on it face first, spreading his arms across the bed.

“This is your room?” Mark asked, looking around. It was pretty barren beside a bed, closet door, large boxes littering the floor, and a dresser with a small flatscreen tv on it. He sat down on the bed by his friend who was splayed out across the mattress.

“Mhm,” he hummed against one of the pillows.

“I would’ve imagined he’d use the room for storage.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Michael said, twisting his body so he’d lay on his back, head propped up on the mess of pillows. “Henry’s obsessed with keeping things as they are. Like… if he saw what something looked like hundreds of years ago, he’d dedicate his entire life to keeping it that way.”

“Maybe that’s how he noticed your robot hand so quickly. I assume you never had it after you left.”

“Maybe.”

“You sure you don’t remember?”

“I do,” Michael huffed. “There’s a feature in the mannequins apparently and it happened to pierce a hole in my wrist so thick it was hanging off by two strands of flesh. Had to figure out how to fix my arm before you came home. Jer-bear had the genius idea of dismantling the robot’s arms to see if I could get it to work as a temporary hand.”

Mark ignored the nickname. “I think your father made it just for that.”

“Or he made it to be as close to as a human as possible. Like an Android.”

“Yeah. With synthetic skin like that—” Mark pointed at Michael’s hand, “—he probably had the plan of making androids. Do you know the stuff he was able to make?”

“No. Nothing other than prosthetics and killer robots.”

“Wait. Y’all’s last name is Afton right?”

“Pretty sure?”

“Isn’t there a robotics company called Afton Robotics or something? Aren’t they like… what’s putting out all these devices? Like our phones and TVs and whatnot?”

“Maybe?”

“Gimme your phone,” Mark said with grabby hands.

Michael groaned and shifted awkwardly to grab his phone from his pocket. He tossed it over to his friend.

“Oh this is the newer one,” he said opening the lock screen. “Your password will always be the same?”

“Mhm.”

“Yah!” He said, turning the phone around and nearly shoving it into Michael’s face. “Look.”

The screen was covered in numbers and symbols, Maybe some phrases. But way at the bottom was _Afton Robotics, LLC_ and a couple intersecting gear shapes next to it. “Cute.”

Mark took the phone back, starting to explore its contents. “What I’m saying is, I think your father is responsible for a lot of the technology we have. If he’s making sentient robots and androids, think of how he could change this world.”

“He can’t if he’s missing, Mark.”

“I know but…"

There was a light shuffling, almost like someone was going through stacks of papers.

“What is that?” Mark asked, going to stand.

Michael twisted awkwardly, getting himself to sit upright in his bed. He strained his ears and listened for the noises, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. His flight or fight was starting to kick in and knowing Michael he’d be in fight mode.

He stood and quietly walked over to the opposite corner of his room, careful not to scare whatever was nearby. It was most likely a mouse or something, but if he scared it they’d probably wake Henry up trying to chase it.

He grabbed the largest box, noticing it had been shaking whenever the shuffling started. He removed the smaller boxes from on top of it and ripped off the tape that kept it closed.

He gasped when the flaps of the box opened and a small screech echoed in the room. A small golden bunny jumped out of the box and onto Michael who only laughed and hugged it. “Plushie!” He held it out, as it laughed. It’s fur was a pastel gold and in patches that had visible stitches between each patch. He always knew the stitches were for aesthetic reasons. “Is this where you’ve been all this time?”

The golden bunny nodded his too big of a head enthusiastically.

“What the hell is this thing?” Mark asked, walking up to his friend and lightly grabbing one of Plushie’s big floppy ears. He got a growl from the tiny plush, showing off its large triangular teeth. Although those teeth seemed to have lost their sharpness through age.

“He’s a companion my dad made for me,” Michael said, using his hand to flatten part of Plushie’s fur much to his disgust. “I’m surprised I remember you, Plushie. ‘Cause now that I look at you all my memories of you are so vivid like they happened yesterday.”

Plushie snorted, “You’re delusional, Mikey.”

“And you’re an asshole,” Michael frowned and loosened his grip, allowing Plushie to climb from his arms and to his shoulders, taking his perch on top of Michael’s head like a child. He rested his abnormally large jaw onto Michael’s hair, watching Mark with lazy periwinkle eyes.

Michael chuckled at his friend who could only stare at Plushie in absolute disgust and confusion. “How about we check out the garage. I’m pretty sure it still has all his old projects in it.”

“Okay."

 

↞ ♡ ↠

 

 

_“William?” Henry asked, opening the garage door. It was late at night and he hasn’t seen his partner all day. He understood he was busy but he needs to rest. He’s tired of seeing how exhausted he gets. He noticed his partner sitting at the desk in a wheelchair with his head in his arms. Two matching pairs of robotic legs were laying on the desk in front of him while he slept. “Will…” he mumbled, walking up to the man and shaking his shoulder. “Wake up.”_

_William groaned, but didn’t move. “No,” he said, his voice muffled in his sleeve._

_“C’mon, it’s late you need to sleep somewhere that won’t break your neck,” he said, grabbing William’s shoulder and pushing him back against the wheelchair._

_William only gave him a bored stare, his silver eyes watching Henry’s every move. “I think I’m pretty comfortable here,” he said, a smirk pulling on his lips, “you should join me.”_

_“Where would I join you?” Henry asked loudly, his voice raising in pitch._

_“I may not have legs but I do have working arms,” William chuckled, lazily flexing._

_“Nope,” Henry huffed and turned around, bringing the wheelchair and the man in it with, “upstairs.”_

_“How about we meet in the middle?” William suggested. “I say living room.”_

_“I say bedroom.”_

_“Do you_ really _want to carry me_ all _the way upstairs,” William asked, dragging his voice out and leaning his head back, staring up at his partner with puppy eyes._

_Henry stopped by the stairs, looking down at William. Glancing back up the stairs he sighed, dropping his shoulders. “Fine. You win,” Henry groaned, turning around and pushing his friend towards the living room._

_“You make me feel special you know that, Henry?” William asked when Henry helped him out of the wheelchair and onto the sofa._

_“Glad I do,” Henry said sarcastically, sitting on the floor in front of the couch._

_“Why don’t you join me? The floor can’t be that comfortable…” William asked quietly, resting his head on a pillow on the armrest, watching the back of Henry’s head with pleading eyes._

_“I would if it was a bed. But a couch? Nah. That’s what you get for wanting to sleep in the living room and not the actual bedroom,” Henry snorted and leaned his head back against the couch cushion._

_“I don’t take up a lot of space. I’m like a compact companion.”_

_“Shut up and go to sleep.”_

_William hummed and turned on his side, keeping his eyes on his partner's face as he attempted to sleep against the couch. He moved his right hand — the one that he recently replaced because he lost it in another experiment — and lightly messed with Henry’s dirty blonde hair. The other man huffed and turned his head, opening his eyes to watch him._

_“Go to sleep.” He closed his eyes again._

_William hummed and did so, his hand never leaving Henry’s hair._


	2. Chapter 2

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* * *

 “Why do we have to stay here with you?” Mark asked, shutting the door to the truck. “Don’t we still have a night shift to do?” Henry locked the doors and started walking across the parking lot. He had a parking spot for himself, but he never used it.

“One; I only got an hour nap after staying awake for essentially two days because of you assholes,” Henry said, opening the glass doors and letting the two roommates walk into the restaurant. “And two; I said I’d pay you overtime for this. And besides, I have a daygaurd that’ll take over your shift if we ever end up missing a night. Knowing William, if we find him we may not be back for a while. He likes his games.”

“You also make him out as a very suspicious person.”

Henry shrugged and walked over to Pirate’s Cove, sitting down at a table just like the day before. The roommates joined him.

“Saw your to do list,” Michael said. “Maybe we can still fix Foxy.”

“Not while there’s kids around,” Henry said, hearing children screaming as they entered the building. Of course it was in joy. The screams of joy and fear are all different and Henry has learned that all too well when working here. Sometimes he’d wake up at night hearing them.

“I can fix him,” Michael said. “I know how Dad’s stuff works, especially after tearing apart that mannequin thing. I can probably put it back together and it’d still function.”

“And you took robotics in college, too,” Mark pointed out.

Michael nodded. He glanced over at Mark with skeptical eyes. “You still have my phone.”

“Oh,” Mark coughed and grabbed his friend’s phone from his pocket and sheepishly handing it over.

“We can also help you finish your to do list,” Michael suggested.

“I don’t need you to do my chores for me, Michael. Although I appreciate the generosity,” Henry said, watching the purple curtains of Pirate’s Cove. Maybe he really should fix foxy. And having another person beside him would make the process go much faster. “I’ll think about it.”

“Speaking of thinking and robots,” Mark started, propping his head up against his hands. “Mind telling us about Will??”

“I do mind.”

“Oh… well…” Mark thought for a second. “I uh… never said anything about it. But when Michael had that first coughing fit in the shower, I saw what looked exactly like the mannequin in the mirror, but it wasn’t anywhere else in the apartment.”

“What?” Michael and Henry asked simultaneously, staring at Mark with wide eyes.

Henry leaned back, turning his head upwards to face the ceiling. Michael didn’t speak, he just continued to stare at Mark.

“Hey… uh, Henry?” A man walked up nervously, leaning over the man who continued to stare at the ceiling.

“Yes, Sam?” He hummed, not moving his head or eyes.

“Will I be covering the night again?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Uh…” he continued to ask more questions that Henry had all simple answers for. Usually just a Yes or No. an occasional maybe popped up.  

“Sam.”

“Yes, sir?”

Henry finally moved, sitting normally on the bench and staring Sam in the eyes. “You’ll be covering the night shift until you see me again. I’ll give you the keys to the building before I leave today.”

“Oh… will I be paid overtime today?”

“Yes.”

“Do I have to stay for the day, too?”

“No. Just make sure it opens at 8AM every day and closes at 7PM and staff leaves by 9PM.”

“Oh. Okay I can do that.”

“Good. Now get back to work.”

Sam nodded and quickly left, not saying another word or even acknowledging the roommates’ presences. He probably saw by their uniforms that they were trusted by Henry.

“So we’re not staying tonight?” Mark asked when Sam left the room.

“No,” Henry replied, “We’re going to explore the house. I’ve needed to check the attic and basement for a long time.”

“When can we go?” Michael asked.

“Now. I just like to stay here in case something happens.”

Henry stood and left the room, weaving through crowds of children. He took a mental note of how many children were around and how many adults there were at the tables. He hummed when he found Sam arguing with another guard. He walked up to the two, ignoring their conversation.

He cleared his throat, catching their attentions, and grabbed the building’s keys from his pocket and tossed them at Sam who fumbled with them before they fell on the floor. He cursed to himself as he bent down and picked up the chain.

“Good job, pipsqueak,” the other guard chuckled, lighting kicking Sam’s shoe when he stood up.

“Shut up,” he glared.

“Yes, please,” Henry agreed. “I’ll be leaving now. Make sure before you close that all children have left the building. Also make sure the same amount of children that were here will leave. I don’t need missing reports being filed while I’m gone.”

“Oh o—”

“Also make sure you don’t run out of power tonight. The breaker in the basement can be switched on and off to reset it, but any new power being used will come out of your paycheck. I also don’t recommend doing it in the first place since I won’t be there to save your ass from the robots.”

“Oh.”

“Also make sure the tables are clean and no one dies.”

“Yessir.”

“I’ll be leaving now. You can have your friend accompany you during your nightshift if you’d like,” Henry shrugged, “I don’t really care. Just don’t smoke the place up, kill anyone, get killed, snoop, etcetera etcetera.”

He waved the two off before heading back towards Pirate’s Cove. “You two coming with?” He asked, waiting for the roommates to stand and join him.

“So we’re going back to the house?” Mark asked.

“First your apartment to grab the rest of that mannequin Michael has in his room,” Henry said, unlocking his truck as he neared. “Then we can go to my place and explore.”

“You’ve lived there for ten years alone,” Mark started, jumping in the passenger. He waited for Henry and Michael to join him in the truck before he continued. “And you haven’t even explored on your own?”

“I’ve been too busy to think about it,” Henry argued, turning the truck on and driving away from the parking lot.

 

↞ ♡ ↠

 

“You’ve already seen it, too,” Michael said, opening his closet door.

“Well yeah!” Mark rolled his eyes before dropping them on the exposed mannequin torso. “Not that I meant to. Henry was snooping and I just happened to see it.”

Michael hummed and dropped to his knees, taking the two white chest plates and reconnecting them to the robot. It stuck like it was magnetic, but he still gave both plates a push until they clicked in place. Mark bent down and helped him pick it up, grabbing underneath it’s torso where it was supposed to connect to the crotch plate.

“Careful,” Michael said, “moving it around like this is exactly how it got me.”

“How does that happen?” Mark asked, shifting his hands under the robot.

“I’ll show you when we get to Henry’s.”

Henry, meanwhile, was on the other side of the room with a large container. He had carefully set papers full of scribbled numbers and letters at the bottom of the bin and began placing the other limbs of the mannequin down. He even — reluctantly mind you — threw in the scraps of metal and black tissue.

They all carried the box and the torso to Henry’s truck, placing them in the trunk and closing the flat top over it. “Sure it won’t escape?” Mark asked, taking a hand. And trying to pry the top open. It was closed by latches on either side of the trunk.

“Shouldn’t,” Henry said, “not unless it can rebuild itself.”

“Here’s to hoping,” Michael grumbled as he jumped in the back passenger and slammed the door shut.

“He seems kinda salty,” Mark pointed out.

Henry laughed, loud and sarcastic. “I would too if someone was digging through my stuff.”

Mark watched him walk around the truck and jump in. He glanced at the trunk before running over to his side and jumping in when Henry had started it.

When the three men arrived at the house, they used the automatic garage to let them in so they wouldn’t have to put anything down at the front door. The container was big enough it probably couldn’t fit in it anyway.

Henry placed the box on the floor by the workshop table and motioned for the boys to place the torso onto the table itself. “Alright,” Henry said, placing his hands on his hips, “show me what this thing can do.”

“I didn’t think you’d be _that_ interested,” Mark mumbled.

“I was told from the beginning these things were harmless,” Henry explained, “but after seeing the inside of the torso and what it did to Michael I began to doubt William’s intentions.”

“What do you mean ‘ _what it did to me’_?” Michael sneered.

“I have to say this so much. I may be almost 50 but I’m not deaf or braindead!”

“He’s got a point,” Mark shrugged, “just show us what it can do. Or at least what you discovered so far.”

“Seeing as it's supposed to be a vessel of some sort for spirits, I’m surprised I haven’t thrown up yet,” Michael noted as he approached the robot and shifted it to face between Henry and Mark. “You might wanna step away from it,” he said as he reached down into the neck-hole.

Henry and Mark did so, and as Michael was sure they were far from it he grabbed a spring in the neck and pulled on it. He immediately pulled his hand out as a snap resonated in the torso and the two chest plates opened. In a matter of seconds another snap sounded and three long and sharp spikes pierced the air with so much force it shook itself and the table.

The spikes stayed in place long enough for the three men to stare at it in wonder. “The bottom one is what got me,” Michael pointed out. Sure enough, the bottom spike, albeit the smallest, was covered in dried blood. Everything about the robot was clean, so they only had to assume that Michael was its first victim.

“I…” Henry started, staring at the robot with wide blue eyes. “I-I’ll be right back.” He turned and left for the door leading into the kitchen, opening it and slamming it behind him.

The spikes slowly retreated back into the chest cavity and the white plates locked themselves back in place. Small ticks resonated from the inside before it rung with another click, signaling the springlock had been forced closed again.

“That’s wild,” Mark mumbled, staring at the robot still. “How does that even happen? How does someone even come up with that?”

“I read that Henry had came up with the springlocks. The first animatronics had them actually,” Michael explained. “They were used to push back the endoskeleton in the animatronic so they can be used as a suit, but it was too dangerous so they decommissioned them and made the animatronics we know at Freddy’s now.”

_“Fuck…”_

“From Henry’s reaction,” Michael continued, “I can only assume he didn’t know about that feature in the mannequins.”

“So your dad made it?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Michael frowned. “I don’t know what for, though.”

“We should… get Henry, right?”

Michael nodded and they left for the garage door. Michael pressed a button by the door and the garage began to close on its own.


	3. Chapter 3

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**[The Mirror's Edge cover](https://www.deviantart.com/aeregele/art/The-Mirror-s-Edge-COVER-763282419) **

* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**  
**\- character death**  
**\- language use**  
**\- just a lot of broken hearts**

 

_“NO!” He screamed, tears streaming down his face. “You can’t take him away from me! He can’t go! PLEASE!”_

_“William! William! Let them do their job, you’ll get hurt if you get too close!” Henry tried holding him, but all the man did was struggle in his grip, crying his heart out as he stared at the large golden bear, the large jaw clamped around the head of his youngest son. The blood seeping through the joints of the jaw and neck._

_“No… he can’t dead,” William mumbled, giving up on his struggle and letting his friend hold him as he sobbed into his shoulder. “He was shut off… that wasn’t supposed to happen. He can’t…”_

_“I know…” Henry whispered, bringing William down to the tiled floor and holding him close. “I know… it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”_

_Later that week William had showed up at Henry’s door, looking a mess. His hair was disheveled and his eyes red and puffy from crying. He was even wearing a wrinkled t-shirt and dirty joggers._

_“William?” He mumbled, grabbing his friend’s shoulders and bringing him into a hug when he started crying. “What’s wrong why're you here? It’s late.”_

_“My wife left me,” he cried, his sobs muffled by Henry’s shirt. “I had to sign divorce papers and she packed up and left this morning before I woke up. She had full custody over the kids, too.”_

_“Will…”_

_“I don’t know what to do!” His sobbing got worse as he shouted into Henry’s shoulder._

_It has only been a week and William’s life had already been falling apart._

_“Let’s go inside,” Henry said quietly, pulling his distressed friend inside and closing the front door. He brought him into the kitchen, making him hot tea. He knew William didn’t really like tea, but he felt he wouldn’t care. Coffee would just make him feel worse and keep him awake. “I’m sorry that had to happen,” he said._

_He noticed William didn’t move or speak, just nodded and sniffled. His breathing wasn’t too unsteady, but he could tell the other man was devastated. He was too when his wife left him a few years ago, taking his kids too. But having lost one first? He couldn’t imagine what that was like._

_“Remember when we were in high school,” Henry started a small reminiscent smile pulling on his lips as he poured the tea, “and a senior tried to beat up some freshie and you stormed in and kicked his ass.” He glanced over at his shoulder. “Sure you were sent home for a few days but ever since then that same senior cowered in fear whenever you were near him. Oh! And that time we pranked the principle senior year! What did we do again?” He placed the mug of hot tea in front of William who took it and slowly sipped it. He winced a little, whether it was from the temperature or the fact that he didn’t like tea, Henry didn’t know._

_“We filled her office with watermelons that your family farmed and asked her to solve how many were in there without going inside,” William mumbled, “but she opened the door anyway and a good portion of the melons spilled out into the halls.”_

_“We still had enough to share with the cafeteria come lunchtime from the farm,” Henry smiled when he noticed that William did, too._

_William rubbed one of his eyes with the back of his hand, taking in a deep breath. “I really appreciate you helping, Henry.”_

_“I’d do anything for a friend,” Henry mumbled, taking a hand and placing it on the man’s shoulder. “A lot happened this week, you should get back to bed. You can sleep here for the night.”_

_William nodded and followed Henry to the guest bedroom. He wasn’t sure if this used to be his daughter's room or not, but he rather not think about that. He was pretty sure her room was still intact just Incase she ever visited when she grew older. Part of him wondered if she ever will. Then that part of him caused his heart to drop when he asked himself if his own kids would visit when they’re older._

_He sat on the bed, not even tired anymore. He didn’t want to sleep. He’s had nightmares every night about Cassidy and now he’s afraid he’d have another about the others._

_He didn’t notice that Henry hadn’t left and was instead next to him until he grabbed his shoulder again. “Do you need company tonight?” He asked, obviously worried about his friend._

_William didn’t answer, but enjoyed the company that night anyway. All he could think about was escape. There had to be a way. A way to redo everything._

 

**↞ ♡ ↠**

 

“Heads or tails?” Henry asked, grabbing a gold quarter from a jar filled with other golden quarters. He still seemed a bit uneasy from earlier. Mark was surprised he was still willing to do this.

“Heads for attic, tails for basement,” Mark said, crossing his arms over the metal bar table. Michael nodded.

Henry huffed and flipped the coin, catching it perfectly and placing it on the table.

“Attic,” Michael mumbled.

“How about basement?” Mark frowned.

“I am _not_ going in the basement,” Michael sneered, glaring at his friend.

“When we're done with the attic we can clear out the basement, okay?”

“Fine. Let’s go.” Mark stood from the bar stool. “How much is up there?”

“Shouldn’t be too much. Maybe a couple endoskeletons but those are usually reserved for the workshop,” Henry shrugged leading the two roommates up the stairs. At the top, they stopped by four doors. All doors were closed aside from the bathroom. Henry reached up towards the ceiling and grabbed a latch, pulling it down and revealing a staircase which unfolded and landed on the floor. “Ladies first,” he stepped aside.

Mark elbowed Michael who growled and stomped up the stairs. He groaned when Henry nodded his head up and followed his friend.

“There isn’t that much,” Michael said, “which is good.”

“Thankfully,” Henry agreed and walked over to a corner where small boxes were placed. _“Plushie…_ ” he frowned and picked up the gold bunny. “Go bother your brother,” he said and placed him back on the floor.

“How’d you get up here?” Michael smiled when the bunny ran to him and grabbed his right pant leg.

Plushie only laughed maniacally. Not much of a talker it seems.

“Hey what’s this?” Mark asked, picking up a box and placing it on an old desk closer to Henry.

“Old files,” Henry shrugged. “Might answer a few things, though.” He continued to move around items in the box he was looking in before deeming it useless and moving it elsewhere. He continued to sift through the other boxes while the roommates looked through the files.

“Hey, that’s Golden Bonnie,” Mark pointed out, smiling as he showed Michael the blueprint.

“That was Will’s favorite,” Henry said. “He was devastated when we had to put them in storage.”

“I’d imagine,” Mark said. “It looks kinda cute.”

Henry snorted. He peered over at the two, looking at the pictures Mark was holding. It was of Golden Bonnie and Fredbear side by side on the stage, and then also a picture of Golden Bonnie with the children, most likely William wearing the suit and entertaining them. That was usually his favorite part, when he got to wear the suit and see the children. He was always a big goof.

It was definitely something he loved to do, most likely because he couldn’t see his own kids after what happened to Cassidy. Henry knew loss all too well and he felt horrible for his friend when he lost custody over Elizabeth and Alex.

At least Michael was 18 then.

“These files are just blueprints,” Michael said, flipping through some of the papers that was in a folder. “Circus Baby?” He tilted his head.

“Oh,” Henry walked over to the two and watched as Michael placed the blueprints down. “I think that was one of William’s bigger projects. I didn’t hear much about it, though. I think he got distracted and worked on something else.”

“It’s dated around the time when he revealed the mannequins in that video,” Mark pointed out.

“Oh yeah,” Michael frowned. “So he got distracted by those things?”

Henry hummed and pulled the box over to him while it was placed on the desk. He grabbed the folder and picked out another blueprint. “Husk,” he read. “It’s a hollow shell built to capture and release spirits.”

“I highly doubt that’s what it’s for now,” Mark frowned.

Henry continued reading, “The spine is used as a reservoir to absorb remnant for future use. More useful for more recent spirits. Spines inside the spine can latch onto a spirit and act as a syringe and absorb remnant.”

“The spines are what removed my arm,” Michael said. “I feel like he’s normalizing that thing. It’s released with a force so strong it could kill someone.”

“Yeah…” Henry blinked and set down the paper. All Henry could think about was the noise of the springlocks as they released and the bang when those spikes jutted out.

“I’d love to take that thing apart more,” Michael said, “but I’m afraid to even open its chest after what it did to me.”

“That’s reasonable,” Henry mumbled and set the paper down. “I think I’m done looking through those, I have other boxes to sift through.” He turned and walked over to the opposite side of the room, ignoring when the roommates spoke.

“Foxy can mimic voices,” Michael read. “That’s weird. They also don’t have a specific pronoun.”

“I’m cool with that,” Mark huffed, “if I wore makeup and all pink I think I’d be confused, too.”

“You _are_ confused.”

Mark snorted and elbowed his friend. He looked around the attic, wanting to help Henry go through the stuff but it seemed he had already finished, pushing the larger boxes closer to the attic entrance and away from the other end of the room. At the very end is a window high up close to the ceiling. It’s already night time as the dark skies were illuminated by the moonlight and stars. Beneath the small window is a tall vintage-styled mirror. Like something you’d see in vampire movies trying to depict the time period that they came from or something.

“What’s the mirror for?” He asked, raising his voice to get Henry’s attention.

Henry stood straight and looked over to where Mark pointed. “Not sure,” he said. “I wasn’t really someone interested enough in vintage stuff, that was William’s deal.”

“Vintage item collector,” Michael snorted, “good to know.”

Mark stepped closer to the mirror, noticing it mirrored most of what was in the attic. He saw him, Michael where he stood, and Henry who stood just behind him. He didn’t see any boxes though and when he turned his head to look he noticed Henry hasn’t moved them downstairs yet.

“There’s no boxes,” he pointed out and went to she closed to the mirror but instead was stopped by an invisible wall. “What the hell?” He mumbled and pressed his hands against it. “What is this?”

Suddenly he was pulled back and away from the wall. “Stay away from it,” Henry growled in a hushed voice. Mark had seen the ferocity is in eyes and he never thought he would, Henry wasn't exactly the most angry person in the world. In fact he always saw it was difficult for him to even glare at someone.

Henry must still be a bit anxious from the husk. In fact, Mark started to wonder how many were out there. Henry had said the first one malfunctioned and the second one was a lot larger. The one Michael had didn’t look _that_ big, so he assumed maybe that was a third one or something.

Michael quietly grabbed the back of Mark’s shirt and pulled him closer, not letting go of the hem of the fabric. Mark was just getting more and more confused when Henry walked up to the invisible wall and placed a hand on it. “What the hell is that?” Mark asked.

“Glass,” Henry said and looked around. “It’s built into the wall and floors.”

“What’s it for?” Michael asked, his silver eyes frantically scanning the room.

“Did you know this was here?” Mark asked.

“No, William usually tells me if he’s going to re-purpose a room like this,” he said, “Then again maybe it was always here. I usually don’t explore attics.”

“I feel like William was up to more sneaky shit than you thought.”

Suddenly the room was filled with blue light. Not light from the moon outside but instead from the glass in front of Henry who stepped back, closer to the roommates. He had an arm slightly raised in front of the two as he took a defensive stance when the blue light brightened and a figure appeared from slowly growing static.


	4. Chapter 4

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**   
**\- suicidal thoughts**  
**\- character death**  
**\- language use**  
**\- just a lot of broken hearts**

 

“I would have expected you to reserve the house,” a man said as he appeared in the lit glass.

He was tall, at least a head taller than Henry, and thin. His eyes are silvery with white pupils and look sunken and hollow as if he had recently come over a terrible illness. He wore a black turtleneck sweater that covered up the majority of his neck and was tucked into a pair of high-waisted black jeans. The jeans pant-legs were rolled up to his mid thighs as his legs had been completely replaced by a mess of scrap metal, wires, and muscle tissue. They seemed somewhat digitigrade, standing on the toes instead of the flat of his feet. Obviously these legs had been built for stability as there’s a toe on the heel on each foot that reached the ground and kept them stable. It moved whenever he shifted his feet.

“William…” Henry mumbled, his voice shaking as he raised a hand to his mouth. His eyes were already beginning to water.

The man, William, removed his right hand from the glass and grabbed the fabric of his sweater near his chest. “You brought Michael…” he mumbled and walked to the side, trying to peer at Michael from behind Henry. “Why are you here?”

“We just wanted to clear out the attic,” Michael mumbled. “This is where you’ve been?”

He smiled a smile that seemed to be a bit creepier than intended. Michael hated that smile so he frowned in response. His grip tightened on the back of Mark’s shirt as the back of his vision started to swim and the scratching returned. The dull scratching. He looked away from William, noticing that it only got worse the more he stared.

“It was a last resort, I’m sorry,” William said, looking hurt as he watched Michael using his friend for support. “And so was that.”

“What’d you do?” Mark asked, rubbing circles his friend’s back.

“I had to prevent anyone from getting leads on my location,” William explained, unmoving. He just kept his silver eyes on his son. It seemed like he was torn between breaking through the glass to help and staying there and being a bystander to pain he apparently caused. “It was my only choice. There’s a chip in the back of his head that removes any memory that it has authorization to remove. And it will remove it again if it were to return.”

“So there’s an ad-blocker in his head?” Mark asked, examining the back of his friend’s head. He didn’t notice at stitches or anything, so they must’ve been removed or were the type that faded over time.

“You can say that,” he hummed.

“Why did you leave?” Henry asked. “What did you do tha—”

“I’m sorry I can’t tell you that,” William hummed. He took a step back, closer to the mirror. As his foot made contact with the floor it shook the whole room with a metallic thud.

His breath quickened when Henry gave up on holding back the tears and started quietly sobbing. “You left me!” He shouted. “Why?!”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t know, I’m sorry,” William mumbled. It looked like something inside him had snapped as his eyes held nothing inside them anymore. “And I also apologize for this, but I can’t allow you to stay here. It’s dangerous.” He lifted his right hand from his  chest and snapped his fingers. “It’s better if you just leave and forget I was ever here in the first place.”

The light in the glass fizzed out and the attic turned dark, the moonlight being the only light in the house now. William’s figure has disappeared when the light turned off, obviously being a projection but he was still so real.

That was definitely him.

“What’s that?” Mark asked, watching the mirror. Michael had slowly lowered himself to the ground to keep himself from actually falling over and passing out, he wasn’t exactly paying attention to the mirror and was only trying to keep his vision straight.

In the mirror he could see a white figure, the mannequin, open the attic door and walk up the steps. It stopped at the door for a moment, giving Mark the chance to look behind him. It wasn’t there. He looked back at the mirror to see the mannequin already up close to it on the other side. It grabbed the edges of the vintage mirror and stepped through like it was nothing. The attic floor shook as it stepped through and a wave of nausea hit the three men as it neared.

Michael collapsed against his friend whose held him close as Henry stumbled in front of them as protection. His vision started to become covered in static as a dull scratching started in his brain. He coughed when a pressure pushed in his chest, spitting out black gunk before his vision completely darkened.

He heard the faint noise of snaps echo inside the robot standing over them before everything fell silent. Everything aside from the loud bang that resonated throughout the whole room.

 

**↞ ♡ ↠**

 

_A loud bang resonated throughout the house, startling Michael. He closed the front door when he heard shouting and immediately ran to the garage, knowing Henry would be there to answer his questions._

_Why can’t he just have a normal day where he can go to class and just learn something instead of being late because someone fucked up?_

_He opened the garage door when the shouting stopped. As he thought about it, the shouting itself was never angry but more panicked. He’s never heard Henry yell like that before… if he even does yell that is._

_“W-what happened?” He asked when he stepped into the garage, seeing his father on the floor, most likely breaking down again. He was wrapped in Henry’s arms who didn’t say anything other than the dumb nonsense he usually does when someone he loves freaks out like this. But he did glance at Michael before turning his eyes to an object on the floor a few feet from them, just out of reach of both men._

_Michael’s heart dropped as he laid eyes on the gun that was most likely kicked or tossed away._

_“Go hide that,” Henry said to him, tightening his grip on William despite starting to calm down a little. Henry’s voice had irked Michael, sending a shiver down his spine. He wasn’t sure why but his voice was so low and dark, something he’s never heard before._

_He nodded and left the garage trying to find a place William wouldn’t know where the gun would be._

_“Mikey! Over here!” He hard from up the stairs. He looked up, seeing Plushie by the attic doorway. He nodded and quickly bounded up the stairs, following Plushie up the attic. He walked over to the desk by the far wall and placed the gun inside one of the drawers that required a key, which he placed in his pocket for safe keeping._

_“Thanks, Plushie,” Michael hummed, patting the golden bunny’s head._

_Why couldn’t he just have a normal life?_

_He walked back into the garage, seeing Henry and his father were still in the same position as before. Henry looked up at Michael with a sad smile. “Thank you, Mikey,” he whispered, his head buried in his partner’s dark hair. “You can get to class now. Sorry to disturb you.”_

_Michael shook his head, walking over and sitting beside the two. “I’ll just email my professors letting them know (vaguely) what happened,” he explained, “they’ll get it.”_

_Henry nodded, shifting his body so he could get more comfortable. It was a surprise William had calmed down so quickly, but having not had any sleep for a good week or so probably helped with that._

_“I’m sorry…” William mumbled against his partner’s shirt, his voice still wavering like he was about to break down again. “I didn’t know what became of me.”_

_“Shhh,” Henry shushed him, bringing him closer if that was even possible. “Don’t worry about it. I understand.”_

_Of course. Michael had forgotten Henry had a daughter. He knows loss like this, but how much does he know anyway? He’s never had one die on him like Cassidy had. Michael understood people deal with loss differently. To an extent they both lost their kids, but his father ended up losing more in a way._

_He scooted closer and wrapped his arms around his father who let out a shaky breath. “It’s okay, Dad…” he mumbled into his shirt._


	5. Chapter 5

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**    
**\- language use**

 

_“Henry!” William shouted, his voice shaky and desperate while he barged into the house._

_“Will, what’s wrong?” Henry asked, rushing down the stairs. His heart dropped when he noticed the fear in William’s eyes._

_“You need to help me,” he said, grabbing Henry by his shirt. “Please I don’t know what to do! She called the cops on me and they think I killed Cassidy!”_

_“Who did?” Henry asked but he knew exactly who called them when William broke down in tears and pulled him closer so he could cry on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, William, I don’t know what to do.”_

_“Please don't let them know I’m here. I didn’t do it, I would never do that to him!” He cried, his grip tightening on Henry’s shirt._

_Suddenly, Henry was pushed back, but not forcibly. William had moved him aside so he could run up the stairs. He heard the attic door open and the stairs roll down and hit the floor._

_“I wasn’t here,” William said before pulling the door shut._

_As Henry answered the door a few minutes later, he had to answer some questions from an officer. He hated lying, but he wasn’t about to let William get caught for something he never did._

_He didn’t know that night would be the same night William was never seen again_.

 

↞ ♡ ↠

 

Henry groaned, moving a stiff hand to his side as a dull pain picked at his skin. He slowly opens his eyes, not remembering ever laying down in a bed.

He gasped when he saw worried silver eyes staring at him. “S-sorry,” Michael stuttered. “I didn’t mean to spook you, I wanted to check on everyone and noticed you were waking up.”

“Michael?”

He nodded. “Not yours,” he said and pointed over to his left. Henry looked and saw the grumpy man he knew as ‘his’ Michael. He was still out cold and so was Mark on the other side of him.

“Where are we?” He asked despite recognizing the attic. “We’re not dead are we?”

“No,” the other Michael said. “ _You_ almost died though. That thing just barely got you in your side.”

Henry relaxed knowing he was still alive, but part of himself was still tense when he continued to look at the Michael look-alike.

“Is there another name you go by?” He asked, “it might get a bit weird later. You can call me Mikey if it makes anything easier.”

“Those two call me Mr.Emily. And… I can remember Mikey. M… my Michael doesn’t exactly like it anyway.”

Mikey nodded and stood up. “I’ll be right back. You can try to wake them up if you’d like. There’s a lot to explain that even I don’t understand.”

Before Henry said anything, Mikey turned and left, rushing down the attic stairs.

Henry did as he was told and slowly sat up from the bed. His side throbbed but he ignored it for the sake of the roommates and stood. He felt a wave of nausea hit him again, just like what happened with the husk. He ignored that as well, at least as much as he tried to, and walked over to Michael.

He grabbed the man’s shoulder and shook him, earning a very displeased grunt. “Wake up, asshole,” he growled and shook him harder. There was a deep pit in him that hated Michael for digging into his life like this and causing this shit. He should’ve just left everything alone and let Henry do it himself so none of them ended up in this weird purgatory they’re in. If that’s what he can call it.

But another part of him, the majority of him actually, was glad he and his friend were here. He didn’t want to do this alone.

“What?” Michael snapped quietly, cracking his silver eyes open.

“I don’t know what happened, but there’s another you.”

_“What?”_

“I don’t know either just get up. Wake Mark for me.”

Michael groaned again and slid out of bed. Like legit, he slowly moved under the covers and slid off the edge of the bed and onto the floor before picking himself up and going to shake his friend.

Henry kept an eye on the attic as he returned to the bed he woke up in. He lifted his shirt and checked his side. There were bandages wrapped around his waist that was bloodied in one spot. He knew it was probably worse before now since these had a stickiness to it that let him know they were new. The dull pain in his side was just white noise to him now.

He caught sight of the vintage mirror, noticing it was completely broken and only showed the wall it had been propped up against. Shards were piled onto the floor like they had been gathered up individually after being broken.

“Fuck, Michael, you okay?” Mark asked. “I thought you were dying last night.”

“I’m fine,” Michael growled, standing up. His friend had already gotten out of bed. Michael seemed a bit flustered.

“Are you sure? That mannequin got pretty close.”

“It’s a Husk,” Henry corrected.

_“Right.”_

“I got you pain killers,” Mikey said, walking up from the stairs with a cup of water and a fist which most likely contained said medication. “The ones from yesterday most likely wore off by now.”

“T-thanks,” Henry stuttered, grabbing the cup and painkillers, quickly taking them.

“I’m sure you’re okay walking, unless you’re still too dizzy to walk downstairs?”

“I’m fine,” Henry growled, standing from the bed after he finished off the water. “Thank you.”

Mikey nodded and turned to the other two men. “You can just call me Mikey. Things are going to get weird when you walk down those stairs.”

“What the fuck are you?” Michael said, his silver eyes wide with animosity.

Mikey snorted. “I told Mr.Emily this already. I know the same thing you do on this subject, which is nothing.”

Michael huffed, turning his glare to Mr.Emily. “So I have to call you Emily again now?”

“That’s fine,” Emily shrugged.

Michael let out a groan, rolling his eyes.

“I’m Mark,” Mark waved awkwardly from behind his friend. “Excuse your look-alike. He can be aggressive when confused.”

Mikey laughed nervously. “I noticed.” He began to head downstairs. “Since y’all are up, we should get going.”

When he disappeared from the attic, Michael growled. “He thinks he knows everything, well he don’t.”

“Tell Jeremy to chill, Michael,” Mark laughed, “and besides, so do you but you don’t hear me complain about it.”

Emily chuckled when Michael socked his friend in the arm, earning a quiet surprised gasp from him. “Be nice,” he said and walked to the attic door. Everything was the same in the attic aside from the lack of boxes and the presence of beds. There’s at least six beds. _Was this known to happen?_

He didn’t bother waiting for the others as he descended the stairs, stopping and holding the rails when he felt nauseous. He didn’t stop for long as he reached the kitchen awfully quick. Maybe he was rushing. He wanted this over with because he was confused and angry and heartbroken.

He stopped at the kitchen, seeing two men. Mikey from earlier and even himself?

_Yeah this is weird._

“I built that thing specifically to lure them,” his lookalike sneered, “there’s no way in hell they could resist it right?”

Mikey shrugged. “Seems legit to me.”

“I’ve also set up different tapes that should get them to react if they don’t. They sound like a garbled mess but it’s kinda like a hidden message.”

“You can’t be simple can you?”

“You think possessed robots are simple?”

“Sounds simple to me.”

His look alike didn’t say anything more. He himself couldn’t even get a hold on what was going on. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to actually. The only difference his lookalike had was darker hair but that was it. Even Mikey’s skin was a tone darker than Michael’s and he wasn't as well built as him either. He seemed so anxious around Emily but around his counterpart in the room he acted just like the Michael he knows.

“You okay?” His lookalike asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“That’s very funny, Henry,” Mikey frowned, glaring at the man.

“Y-yeah I just…” Emily blinked. “I feel like I passed through some kind of hell. Who… wh… _I don’t seem to be getting what’s going on here._ ”

“Are the others awake?” He asked, he didn’t seem too worried about him, or even anyone for that matter. It was like this man had no feelings for anything anymore. _What happened to him to make him like this?_

“Yeah they are. I think they’re just arguing is all,” Emily responded quietly.

Suddenly his counterpart shouted, “MICHAEL!” Louder than even he could.

“WHAT!?” Michael responded back before rushing down the stairs. He didn’t make it all the way down before he notice Henry in the kitchen… _and_ at the bottom of the stairs. “No. Nu-Uh. Nope.” He continued to growl at himself as he rushed back upstairs. “Hell no! NO!” It wasn’t long before he was carried down by Mark. “No! You can’t make me live through this _hellhole_!”

He was placed beside Emily, standing with his arms ready to strike whoever touched him next.

“You can’t make me do this,” he said, his silver eyes wide with what Emily was starting to believe was fear.

“What’s that stuff that makes you pass out again?” Henry asked Mikey, his voice was low like he was trying to ask secretly but his voice naturally being loud happened to catch Michael’s attention.

“Fuck off, _demon_.”

“Michael, it’s fine. We’re all as confused as you are,” Mark said, taking Michael’s arm in his hands. “There’s no need to be hostile about it.”

“How about everyone just sit down?” Henry said, motioning towards the barstools where Mikey was sitting. “I can make some tea or coffee and we can all have a nice long, relaxing, talk, yah?”

“Your Canadian is showing.”

“Shut up, Mikey, I’m not even from Canada.”


	6. Chapter 6

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

 

“Listen I just want to get the names over with so no one gets confused,” Henry said. “Henry is fine with me, seeing as yours doesn’t like that name.”

Emily nodded. His lookalike seemed to understand more of what’s going on than anyone. He was glad Michael calmed down enough to listen.

“And Michael is fine with you?” He asked, motioning towards one of the roommates.

“Yes.” Michael nodded.

“Mine’s fine with Mikey?”

Mikey nodded.

“Eggs is fine, too,” Henry added.

“And now I leave!” Mikey growled and slid off the bar-stool and made his way to the front door.

“It’s not even time for your shift!” Henry shouted to him, “It’s not even five!”

“Well maybe I might catch a party!”

The door slammed, leaving the four in silence. Henry snorted. “He doesn’t like being called his _‘work name’_.”

“Eggs?” Mark repeated.

“There’s a console where he was supposed to enter in his name and its way too buggy,” Henry shrugged. “It generated a name for him. _‘Eggs Benedict’_ or something.”

Emily chuckled to himself. “So what’s the big deal here?” He asked.

“You nutcases were dragged through the mirror in the attic by the husk,” Henry answered without difficulty. He poured cups of tea and coffee while he continued. “William had built a transport system between realms. I don’t know how he did that or even how it works, but in experience I know that our worlds may look identical. They're not. William had told me a lot of yours and I learned that certain… _events_ have yet to take place.”

“Events like…” Michael egged on.

“Freddy’s has been shut down. Every building we had ever is being deconstructed. There have been murder after murder for a very long time and it’s gotten to the point where it will just continue if we keep the business,” Henry said. His tone hasn't changed at all and neither has his face, but his eyes held somewhat of a reminiscing gleam, albeit dark. “We did figure out who the killer was, but there was no evidence. So he got away with it, but he disappeared fifteen years ago.”

“Was it…” Mark whispered, “ _Was it William?”_

Henry nodded. “He used the golden Bonnie suit to lure children and kill them. After he disappeared so did the suit. I took it upon myself to build a luring device so I can find him. Because I know he’s still out there.”

“What will you do when you find him?” Emily asked.

“I’m going to burn him and everything he lived to ruin,” Henry growled. He ended in a low whisper, almost like he had been driving himself to madness just thinking about it. “That’s the only way they can be freed now. _They’re too far gone._ ”

“What can we do to help?” Emily asked. “And where did William go? _My_ William?”

“He left with the husk after you three arrived. He seemed to be in a rush. But Mikey had found you so we had to stay to make sure you all were okay.”

“Now he’s more ahead of anyone than he already was,” Michael mumbled. “We just happened to find him by accident.”

“Wait…” Emily shook his head, almost like he was trying to rid of any distractions that were preoccupying his brain. “Does this mean I can’t go and clean my basement?”

“You’re going to have to put that on hold until we can figure out how to get you back home,” Henry shrugged uselessly.

“God… _dammit.”_ Emily growled to himself. “The one time I actually need to complete my to do list it’s swept up from beneath me.”

Henry shrugged, indifferent on the subject. “I need to pick up a coworker of mine soon in a few hours. We’re going to go hunting for a nice dark alleyway, y’all wanna join?”

“If I know Michael,” Mark started, already receiving a glare from his friend, “he likes his dark alleyways.”

“What part of you thinks I like dark alleyways?” Michael asked, turning towards his friend. “I don’t even like going near basements!”

“You didn’t experience anything in a basement did you?” Mark asked.

“No! I just don’t like them! They might be haunted!”

Mark hummed sarcastically, earning a punch in the arm.

“Wow, you two gonna kiss or what?” Henry snorted, actually showing emotion, even if it were smug.

“Pfff!” Michael made a face, obviously flustered.

 

**↞ ♡ ↠**

 

“Sure you wanna sit in the back?” Mark asked, turning around in his seat to watch his friend.

Michael closed the back van doors and sat in one of the long benches, glaring at his friend. “I’d rather not be cooped up in a van with a bunch of assholes.”

“C’mon I wasn’t making fun of you!” Mark whined.

“I know.”

“Are you okay?” Mark asked, his voice lower. The two had caught Emily’s attention as he was watching them, but he didn’t want to intrude so he stayed silent.

“Can you sit back here with me?” Michael asked. “For now. You can move back over there later if you’d like.”

“Uh…” Mark cleared his throat awkwardly. “Sure.”

Mark jumped out of the van, quickly making his way around before hopping in the back, closing the back doors. Immediately the van was started and lurched backwards before pulling out of the driveway.

“What’s up?” Mark asked, trying not to fall over when the back tires hit the end of driveway. He fell in his seat beside Michael.

“I…” Michael choked on his words. He could barely start in the first place. He raised his right hand to his chest, clutching his shirt tightly. “E…e-ever since the night in the attic I s-stopped hearing them.”

“R-really?” Mark asked, placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Is it… are they okay? Are you okay?”

“I don’t know!” Michael gasped, tears falling down his face. “I hate it so much! I don’t want them gone! _It’s too quiet…_ ”

“Hey… it’s okay,” Mark whispered when he noticed Henry had noticed them, occasionally glancing at him through the rear-view mirror. “Don’t worry we’ll figure it out.”

Michael shook his head, not saying anything more as he quietly sobbed to himself.

The van’s breaks squealed as it slowed to a stop. “Fix your breaks much?” A man outside shouted, opening the front passenger door.

“I’ll fix them when I’m not concerned about mysterious murders,” Henry hummed.

“True.”

“You bring it?”

“Yeah, Mike’s gonna throw it in the back.”

On cue, the back van doors opened and a brown-haired man jumped in, pulling up a dolly with a strange device tied to it. He set it against the wall of the van, tying it to that too so it wouldn’t be shaken about during the ride. He turned around, waved awkwardly at Mark and Michael, and jumped back out, shutting the doors.

“Good luck,” a muffled voice shouted from outside, closer to the front. Mark could see from the front windshield that the man was already walking away.

“That was…” he whispered. “Was that Mike?”

Michael nodded, his tears had already stopped, but his eyes were still red and he sniffled every once in awhile.

“So where we headed, boss?” The new guy asked. He didn’t seem too excited to be existing.

“I circled few places on the map,” Henry said. “I’d like them to be as close to either location as possible, but far enough away where it doesn’t get too suspicious or in the way.”

The blonde pulled up a map on his phone, most likely a pdf as he took out a stylus from the bottom of his device and crossed out one of the circled roads. “Eisenhower is too busy. Laurence is too busy.” He listed off a couple other roads. Before pausing. “These are all so busy.”

“Not at night. I know those things only roam at night if they were smart enough,” Henry said. “And seeing as I haven’t heard or seen of them lately I assume that’s what they’re doing.”

“How’d this even happen anyway?”

“Bad security.”

“Right.”

The van slowly squealed to a halt. Mark swore his ears were about to bleed if it didn’t get fixed soon. Maybe it’ll even fall apart before that.

“Here, Jer,” Henry mumbled. “This is the closest alleyway to the building. And it’s by a road that’s not so damn busy; day or night.”

“Good. We gonna place it there then?” Jer asked.

“Sure. Not my job,” Henry huffed, leaning back after shifting the van into park. “Have fun.”

Jer groaned, displeased, and opened his door. He slid out of the van, slamming the door behind him. It wasn’t long before he opened the back doors to the van and jumped in. He glanced at Mark and Michael.

“I’m Jeremy,” he snorted, “you two wanna help me drag this thing or you just gonna sit there and make out?”

Michael glanced up, his silver eyes wide as he heard the southerner’s voice. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the blonde man in the big black hoodie with a dark gray beanie, worn blue jeans, and judgmental green eyes.

“What?!” He squawked, “ya wanna kiss me, too?”

Mark snorted, “We can help. How heavy is that thing?” He stood, glancing at Michael who still stared at the blonde.

“Nothing you two can’t handle,” he grumbled, grabbing a large flashlight from his hoodie pocket and pressing the switch. It turned on with a loud click, the bright white light illuminating the back of the van. He pointed the light to the strange device strapped to the vehicle’s interior wall. “The dolly should make it easier. Just make sure it doesn’t get damaged on the way out.” He jumped out of the van, using the flashlight to scan the surrounding area. The moonlight wasn’t enough to pierce through the clouds. He was fine with that. The darker the town the easier it will be to get this done.

“Don’t drop it!” Michael growled, catching the bottom of the dolly and lowering it slowly.

“Hands are greasy,” Mark pointed out, wiping his hands on his pants before jumping down from the van.

“From what?” Mark glared. “Your sweat?”

Mark shrugged and grabbed the handles of the dolly, following Jeremy when he began walking. Michael helped him raise the dolly onto the sidewalk when they reach it.

Jeremy waited for the roommates to catch up to him before he turned and walked into the dark alley. The flashlight was bright enough to light up the entire space as they walked down to the end.

“Smells like death,” Michael mumbled, mostly to himself.

Jeremy snorted. “Maybe that’s why Henry likes this spot the most. It’ll make robots housing dead people a lot easier to hide.”

“What?” Mark stopped in his tracks. The other two men stopped as well and watched him. “What’s going on!?”

“A lot of things,” Jeremy mumbled. “Just move it over here and we can take the dolly back and leave. Henry might even show you the location too if you ask nicely.”

Jeremy unstrapped the device, grabbing the bottom and heaving it off the ground. “Help me here,” he growled, shifting the weight of the object. “It goes on the wall.”

Mark rolled his eyes, grabbing the back of the device and helping Jeremy place it onto the wall.

“How does that thing stick like that?” Mark asked, “it’s so heavy.”

“I don’t know! I’m not the sciencey person here,” Jeremy growled. “Ask Henry.”

Mark glanced at Michael. “Air pressure,” Michael said.

“Oh, okay.” Mark glanced around, seeing the gray van at the end of the alley. “Jeremy, I need to talk to Michael alone for a second. Will y’all stay there for us for a sec?”

Jeremy shrugged. “Don’t take too long else we’ll leave ya.”  He handed the flashlight to Mark and shoved his hands in his hoodie’s pocket before turning and leaving. His footsteps echoed past the dark alley.

“What’s up?”  Michael asked, confused.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” Mark said. “I’m kind of worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” Michael huffed, avoiding eye contact like it were the bane of his existence.

“Hey,” Mark started, reaching out a free hand to grab Michael’s. “If you need anything just tell me. It can be a secret between us.”

Michael nodded, barely glancing at his friend. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do, having never really gotten used to physical contact like this. Even if it was just simple hand-holding. He couldn’t remember the last time he held someone’s hand and the static at the back of his head told him he probably never would.

 

**-.-- --- ..-     .-- .. .-.. .-..     .- .-.. .-- .- -.-- ...     -... .     .- .-.. --- -. .**

 

He jumped slightly when Mark leaned down and quickly pecked his cheek before letting his hand go and walking off.

“Wh… h…” Michael felt like his heart stopped for a quick second as he couldn’t figure out how to speak or even think. Then again today has just been a complete mess of emotion.

He pushed it aside and jogged after his friend seeing as he didn’t want to be left alone in complete darkness. He awkwardly kept pace with his roommate, his hands occasionally twitching.

_Now he just has even more questions._


	7. Chapter 7

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**Chapter Warnings:**    
**\- suicidal thoughts**  
**\- language use**  
**\- just a lot of broken hearts**

 

The ride was mostly silent, as most are with these people. Michael ended up passing out at some point, sleeping on Emily’s shoulder. He didn’t mind, really. Well… it may have been a bit awkward because it turns out he can be clingy when he sleeps. But as long as he got his rest no one really cared.

What woke Michael, though, was the brakes squealing. He groaned to himself and moved to sit up and away from Emily who just shrugged him off with an amused grunt. The man’s been too quiet lately, but Michael would be too if he was easily disturbed.

“Isn’t he usually outside by now?” Jeremy asked, leaning forward in his seat like he was trying to see something.

“I’m getting out,” Henry growled, “Y’all have fun.” He opened his door and jumped out, closing it behind him — less forcefully than Jeremy had earlier.

Henry took a small flashlight from his pocket and turned it on, entering a building. The glass doors shook when he threw them open, determined to see why Mikey was taking so long.

 

**Welcome. Please insert a name in the keypad or an employee ID into the scanner.**

 

He huffed, grabbing his ID from his wallet and swiping it into the scanner that was place by another door.

 

**Welcome: Henry Emily. Next time, come at a reasonable time instead of during someone else’s shift.**

 

“Fuck off, asshole,” Henry growled as one of the doors shut and the room shook to a start. It began to lower like an elevator, albeit much faster. He waved his flashlight around boredly, noticing it didn’t light up much. Thankfully that might keep anything from attacking him if they were still nearby. He hoped they were all scrapped.

He stopped waving the flashlight around uselessly when the elevator slowed its descent until it stopped completely. The door to his left, closer to the scanner, opened. Another dark room awaited Henry, only lit by a few desk lights and a couple static tv screens. He huffed and walked over to one of the windows, his reflection staring back at him with emotionless eyes. He turned the light on in the room on the other side, seeing nothing there.

 

**Looks like FOXY has an appointment with the scooping room, so they won’t be available today.**

 

“I may not be a religious man but thank you, God, for shining a light in my miserable life today.” Henry snorted and grabbed a key-ring from his belt, he grabbed one of the keys and used it to unlock a door by the window. Sure, there was a vent but he wasn’t exactly about to squeeze through that cramped space. Plus he’s pretty sure he was too old to be able to do that anyway.

He closed the door behind him and walked in the dark room. Without the flashlight there’d be no way for him to see the tiles he stepped on or even a hand if one were to be held inches from his face.

It was eerie to him how this room echoed with the slightest noises. He was pretty sure a bee farting could be heard from across the gigantic room.

 

**An employee has entered: the scooping room.**

 

“Wait, what?!” Henry shouted before realizing who the employee was and booked it to the far door. He opened it, relieved it was still unlocked, and ran down the hallway. He passed by many doors, but his photographic memory helped him pick out exactly which one led to the “scooping room”.

His heart was racing as he stopped by the door, not only from running but also from the induced panic as red lights began to flash and an alarm began to sound, echoing down the metallic hallways of the building.

He pulls the door open, seeing another man in the room.

 

**Please stay clear of the scooping room while it is active.**

 

His breathing stopped and no thoughts ran through his mind as time seemed to slow when he acted entirely on instinct, grabbing Mikey and pulling him back towards him. he pulled them both down onto the floor as, beneath the alarm, loud clicks echoed throughout the machine before a bang resonated through the room and the large claw hurtled towards them. The claw rung as it hit the air in front of them before quickly retracting back and folding itself into the wall.

The red lights seized their flashing and the alarms stopped. The room was filled with silence as both men sat on the floor.

Henry couldn’t take it anymore. Whatever emotion was building up in his system was released into loud sobbing. He couldn’t help it when he tightened his grip on the man that he began to see as his own son as he cried into his black hair. He could tell the younger man was distressed as well, feeling his body shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm.

“I-I-I’m s-sorry,” Mikey hiccuped. “I-I didn’t know w-what was going o-on.”

Henry shook his head, only glad that Mikey wasn’t injured. He took in and released a deep breath, trying to calm himself down as he slowly moved his body about to hopefully calm them both down. He remembered that dance that he installed into each robot to ensure the children would be easily calmed when forced into a panic. No matter how imperfect the robots were, he always made sure they had safety precautions and ways to deal with certain illnesses and anxieties.

It was too bad his partner was never satisfied.

Henry, still holding Mikey tightly, shakily stood from their spot in the floor. He kept his eyes on the machine that just tried to kill them as he exited the room. He carried Mikey the whole way out, not bothering when he protested.

By the time they neared the elevator, it opened to a panicked Jeremy.

“What happened?” He asked, shoving a hand underneath his beanie in a nervous fashion.

Henry didn’t answer, he just walked around the blonde and into the elevator, ignoring when Jeremy asked even more questions. He leaned against the wall of the elevator and slid down to the floor. He could still feel Mikey shaking in his grip, although less violently than earlier. He held him even closer, placing his head in his hair while he rubbed the man’s back.

It took him everything to resist crying again.

“The elevator wouldn’t open,” Jeremy said as the elevator began is ascent. “No matter how much I swiped my card. It just kept saying the building was in lockdown until the scooper was turned off. What the hell is _the scooper_?”

Henry shook his head, closing his eyes. He didn’t want to think of that machine. He never wanted to think about it. He had hoped Mikey would never have to go near that room.

His mind raced with many thoughts. Like how did he get in there? What drove him to wander in? Why couldn’t he realize what he was doing? What would he do if it were to have gotten him? Or how… how it could have gotten him if he waited a few more seconds to leave the van. His heart dropped as the thought repeated itself.

_He was only seconds away from Mikey’s death._

 

**↞ ♡ ↠**

 

As soon as they got back to the house, Henry left to his room. Mark didn’t question the man, he seemed too stressed to want to talk about it. He looked like he would die on the spot if he were asked again anyway.

“What happened, kid?” Jeremy asked quietly, sitting next to Mr.Emily as he held Mikey in his arms, sitting on the living room couch.

“I… I-I don’t know,” Mikey said, his voice muffled in Emily’s uniform. “One m-minute I was o-on my way to the elevator… th-then the next I was s-s-suddenly in the s-scooping room.”

“What the hell is a scooping room?” Michael asked, being less sympathetic than he should be.

Mikey pulled away from Emily, his silver eyes unfocused as they were still filled with threatening tears. “I-it’s a room b-built to sc-scoop the i-insides of the ani-animatronics out s-so the-they can be repaired.”

“Jesus,” Mark mumbled “that could’ve killed you.”

Mikey nodded, taking a hand and wiping his eyes.

Henry kept the lights off in his room, he didn’t bother moving from the floor as he just laid on the carpet. He felt bad for leaving Mikey in the living room, but he had the others.

Henry had no one.

He could barely remember the last time he nearly died, especially by something he and _his_ William made. If anything, the springlocks nearly killed William and him, but that was one time.

He felt useless, just laying on the floor. The adrenaline from earlier finally wore off and now he just… he felt nothing. No normal emotion passed through his body. His mind was numb. Slow.

He hasn’t felt a fear like that in a long time. Not since the springlocks. _Not since…_

Thinking about it made him want to throw up. The man turned sick, sicker than any human being could be. He wasn’t sure what caused him to snap the way he did, but he’s glad he disappeared. He’s glad he left.

A small smile pulled on Henry’s lips as he closed his eyes.

_That bastard is going to burn in Hell._

The smile quickly faded. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. His heart would’ve stopped if he wasn’t so easily disturbed by the pitch darkness of his room which held the slowly blinking white eyes of the souls that have always haunted him.

He ignored the whispering. The tormenting. He’s heard it all before and he didn’t feel like hearing it again.

 

.-- .... -.--     -.. --- -. - -.-- --- ..-     .--- ..- ... - -.- .. .-.. .-..     -.-- --- ..- .-. ... . .-.. ..-.

-. ---     --- -. .  .-- .. .-.. .-..     -.- -. --- .--

-. ---     --- -. .  .-- .. .-.. .-..     . ...- . -. -.-. .- .-. .     - --- .-.. --- --- -.- ..-. --- .-.     -.-- --- ..-

 

They weren’t wrong. At least to him. He’d sound crazy if he ever told Mikey that those spirits haunt him, whisper to him every night the same thing.

At this point the only thing keeping him alive was Mikey and his own determination to burn it all. Maybe he can burn himself with William’s creations. Maybe that will satisfy the traitor’s lust to see others dead, the blood on his own hands.

The voices seemed content with his plan, and left him alone. The eyes faded away and the room became brighter, the light of the morning sun shining through his blinds.

He stood from the floor, his legs shaking slightly, and left his room.

He was greeted by the happy smile of the man who he began to call his own son.

_Tomorrow is another day._


	8. Chapter 8

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

 

The group returned to the alleyway the next night. The ride there was almost completely silent. Henry drove, not speaking a word, still tense form the night before. Jeremy voiced his concern for his boss, but after a few minutes in the ride he shut his mouth. Emily quietly observed the streets outside his window, comfortable with being used as a pillow by Mikey who slept the whole ride there. Mark and Michael quietly soaked in each other’s company in the back of the van, only exchanging a few looks and curious nudges.

The van halted suddenly, not giving the brakes enough time to squeal. Henry nodded his head off towards the alley. Jeremy nodded and jumped out of the van.

The doors in the back opened, Jeremy waved the two friends over to follow him. “Bring the dolly, too. I don’t wanna have to make two trips.

Michael huffed through his nose, grabbing the dolly that was strapped to the wall and dragging it down from the van. He wasn’t as cautious with it as they were yesterday, especially since there was nothing strapped to it. Yet.

Jeremy used his large flashlight again, lighting up the alleyway. At first all they saw were trash cans, abandoned boxes and shopping carts, and maybe a few rodents skittering by. As they neared the end, a wave of nausea overcame them all.

The worst was when it hit Michael. He stopped in his tracks and leaned down, holding his right hand to his chest as a pressure began to build up. That pressure released into a violent coughing fit, which seemed to catch Jeremy's attention.

“What the hell is wrong with him?” He sneered, shining the light on the other men. Mark had taken Michael into his arms, trying to help him by occasionally hitting his back. Jeremy stepped back and nearly screamed when Michael threw up thick black liquid.

“H-He has a weird reaction to paranormal stuff, I guess,” Mark said, lowering himself and Michael down onto the stained concrete, not bothered when Michael continued to throw up even if the strange fluid made contact with his clothing. “You’d have to ask Emily.”

“Will it stop?” Jeremy asked, his mind swimming. He felt like he was about to fall over, but he wasn’t about to give in to whatever was causing him to feel this way. With the paleness of Mark’s skin, he assumed he was also feeling the same way.

“Not unless he’s away from whatever’s causing it.”

“What are we gonna do when it’s in the same truck as him?!”

“I don’t know!” Mark shouted back, his grip on Michael tightening. For a second, he hasn’t noticed that Michael’s coughing fit had stopped. “You okay?” He asked when he couldn’t hear his friend’s violent fit.

Michael nodded loosely, releasing a dizzy groan. He made a noise like he was trying to speak, but all that came out was a choked muttering.

“Can you stand?” Mark asked, moving his legs to stand. Michael didn’t hesitate to let his friend help him up and off the concrete. His legs shook and wobbled, but after a few seconds of standing there he was able to stand on his own. Walking might be a different story, though, so he took a hold of Mark’s sleeve for support.

Jeremy huffed and have Mark his flashlight, taking the dolly for his own. “If only I knew this would happen then maybe I wouldn’t have made you two come with.”

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Michael mumbled. “It … it shouldn’t last long. The worst that… that will happen would be me passing out f-for a day.”

Jeremy hummed. “Least we know this thing works.” He stopped, leaving the dolly behind as he walked around it, crouching down beside a mangled mess of wires and metal scraps. “Whatever this thing is, I assume Henry wants us to take it with us.”

“How? We can’t exactly restrain wires can we?” Mark asked, moving the flashlight to get a better look.

“Looks like Freddy,” Michael said. “Wonder what happened to it.”

“Pff. S’gotta be somethin’ from Mikey’s location,” Jeremy said, “He mentioned those things left him a while ago. He just stays there so he can get paid and to make sure teenagers don’t sneak in and mess with the system.”

Mark hummed. “That location have a Freddy?”

“Ya think I know? I’m not some dumb all-seeing god, ya know!”

“Do you have something to prove?” Mark asked. “You always act like you’re picking a fight.”

“Bet I’d kick your ass,” Jeremy growled. “Just help me with this thing, will ya?”

Mark rolled his eyes, only taking a step to help when Michael let go of his sleeve and took the flashlight.

They grabbed whatever mass they could, heaving the mangled figure onto the dolly. They didn’t bother strapping anything on it as the robot seemed undisturbed from the movement, but Jeremy still took out an odd cord and connected it to what he assumed was its neck. “Our caution tape,” was all he said as he waved about a hand-sized device he retrieved from the same pocket. It only had a button that faintly glowed orange.

Jeremy took the dolly and walked ahead, not bothering to wait for the two friends who walked to the van slowly.

“Still doin' alright?” Mark asked, nudging his friend.

“Do you have a explanation of what you did last night?” Michael asked. He seemed uninterested, or at least he sounded like it.

Mark shrugged, not understanding what he meant.

Michael stopped and turned to him. “You kissed me!” He whispered loudly.

Mark stopped, too, remembering that he, in fact, had missed Michael. “Well… only on the cheek,” he defended. “Kinda was testing my boundaries.”

Michael huffed.

“Can we talk about it when we get to Henry’s?”

“Sure, whatever.” Michael turned and began to walk, not bothering when Mark shouted for him to wait.

“You two sit in the back,” Jeremy said when the roommates reached the van. He led them to the back. “Use this—” he handed over the button, “— if you think it’s going to attack you. It should freeze up its servos enough to make it learn a lesson or two.”

Mark nodded and took the button, jumping in the van after his friend when Jeremy retreated back to the front.

As the van lurched to a start, the atmosphere became tense. Emily cautiously watched the space behind his seat, making sure the roommates were safe as well as being careful as to not wake Mikey (who was still asleep for some reason). Michael and Mark at the back of the van both kept a hold of the small button, the flashlight setting between them lighting up the mangled animatronic against the wall. Michael was a bit embarrassed for being this scared, or at least scared enough to lean so close to his friend. He usually doesn’t like to have any physical contact with anyone unless he felt like he was about to die. Or worse…

Michael flinched and released a small whimper when the animatronic twitched. Although he calmed down when he realized it was just because the van had hit a small pothole. Although the twitch itself was a bit excessive.

He ignored his confused feelings and leaned further into Mark, who just huffed in amusement. Neither one of them took their eyes off the robot the whole ride. Well… Michael did every once in a while to try and ease his mind, but not for long really.

Michael’s heart dropped and his body froze when he noticed part of the robot moved. A mass of wires on the floor of the van had slowly moved across the surface like it was a snake, but stopped.

Michael yelped when the animatronic’s body lurched forward with its mouth agape. He and Mark brought up their feet into the seat, away from its metallic maws before pressing the button. The robot screeched as its insides were lit up by a bright flashing blue light.

“ _That’s_ what that thing does?” Emily growled, watching the robot seize on the floor. It’s body shuddering violently against the metal surface until the wave of electricity stopped.

“You’d rather have it kill them?” Henry asked as he slowed the van down to a stop.

“No I just… _wasn’t expecting that,_ ” Emily responded quietly. He felt bad for the robot, but at the same time it did try to kill his friends. He assumed, from what he heard from his counterpart, that these robots were designed to kill. When he remembered that, he steeled himself and forgot about any remorse he had about these robots. _These things deserve to be burned in hell._

“Everyone. Out.” Henry growled and jumped out of the van. He walked around the van and opened the back doors, jumping in and grabbing the robot. He placed it back onto the dolly and grabbed a rope from the floor, wrapping it around the robot and tying a tight (and complex) knot. He reached out a hand and motioned for the roommates to give him the remote.

Mark nodded and handed it over, still uneasy from earlier. He moved his legs so he could stand from the seat, awkwardly grabbing Michael’s hand to pull him up as well. Michael glared at him, but didn’t bother taking his hand back until Mark let go.

“Sorry.”

Henry turned the dolly around and kicked the back up, pushing it forward in the air so it’d land on the asphalt below. The robot shook with the impact, it’s skewed metal face places clanging against one another. It’s jaw flopping open and revealing a row of burnt sharp teeth. It let out a strangled growled.

“We’re here already?” Mikey asked, stretching off any sleep he still had left. He caught sight of the mangled robot strapped to the dolly. “Hey that's Funtime Freddy. Wonder where Bonbon went.”

Jeremy jumped back when the robot released a goofy chuckle, but nothing more. The noise seemed to shake the robot’s wires a bit.

“Jerk,” Jeremy growled and took the handles of the dolly, pushing it up the slope on the sidewalk and walking towards a rundown looking building. Henry had already left the group and had been standing by the open front doors waiting for everyone. On closer inspection, Mark noticed Henry had a gun strapped to his belt. The thought of his intentions scared him.

His fear must’ve been visible because suddenly there was a hand on his forearm. He looked over and made eye contact with Michael. It kind of scared him to see Michael look so sure about himself, yet also worried? After last night, he’d assume this man would be upset.

“You look like you saw someone die,” Michael said, keeping his voice down.

“I just…” Mark glanced over at Emily who was talking to Henry at the door. “Henry had a gun so I got a bit scared when I saw his dark it was in that building.”

Michael took a quick peek over his own shoulder, mostly to test if Mark’s observation was correct. “I see it, too,” he said. The confirmation didn’t exactly help Mark much. “But don’t worry,” Michael started with a lazy smile and half-lidded eyes. “I’ll be here if you need a bodyguard.”

Mark nodded, happy his friend didn’t despise him. He wondered if he overstepped his boundaries. But when Michael lowered his hand and the base of his wrist and tightened his grip there, he was reassured that… maybe not. Maybe he was starting to consider his options. Not that he had many to begin with.

Michael jerked his arm, pulling him along as they walked into the building. “At least give me a warning!” He sneered. He quietly gasped when the door closed with a loud bang which echoed throughout the whole building.

Lights flickered on, causing Mark to close his eyes so they could adjust to the sudden change. When he opens them he saw a large room, filled with new-looking tables and decorations. A stage stood at the back with the iconic Freddy Fazbear, Chica the Chicken, and Bonnie the Bunny. Although these robots looked different. They looked shiny, remade. Their surfaces were vibrant, their jaw hinges were covered by large red cheeks meant to make them cuter, and their chests were adorned with a golden star.

“These are a part of the new Rockstar like I made,” Henry said, noticing Mark and Michael’s amazement. “I made them specifically for this project. It’s sad to see them go.”

“Like a final goodbye,” Emily said. “You made them as a farewell gift, reminding yourself of the good times spent making the originals.”

“Yes. Sadly, though, I made these alone.”

“Of course.”

“You can tell because they weren’t built to kill,” Henry snarled, mostly to himself as he approached the new robots. “And they weren’t programmed to clean the bloody messes their creator made behind the backs of those who trusted him.”

“I think this version of you has gone completely mad,” Mark mumbled to Emily.

“Whatever he dealt with would probably make me insane, too,” Emily said before following Henry. “Where does the animatronic go?” He asked when he noticed Jeremy or the robot weren’t in sight.

“Vents,” Henry said, pointing up. “There’s a system of halls and vents I built up there. After the animatronic is released, any passageway back down here will be closed.”

“So you built a deathmaze?” Michael asked, staring at the robots on stage. He was glad he could look, or even go near them, without throwing up or passing out.

Henry shrugged. “I guess you can call it that.”  He grabbed his phone from his pocket, checking a message he may have gotten. “Alright, we can go now. Jeremy has it left in the room.”

“Wait, are we gonna leave him?” Emily asked.

“For tonight while they’re active,” Henry said blatantly. “He volunteered to make sure the robot doesn’t try to get out on the first day. After tonight we’ll be hiring someone else.”

“I’ll do it,” Mikey mumbled. “Especially since you took extra measures this morning to fire me from Circus Baby’s.”

“No. But you can look for another person for me.”

“But…”

“No, Mikey! I’m not gonna risk you getting hurt.”

“But you’re willing to risk Jeremy’s life instead?” Mikey asked accusingly. “What part of you thinks he’s able to handle killer robots?”

“The part of me who knows that he’s not as easily influenced by ghosts like you are,” Henry growled. “You will _not_ stay here during the night under any circumstances. _I’ve lost enough_.” He huffed and walked away, exiting the building through the large metal doors.

Mikey glanced at Emily briefly before sighing and following the man who just stormed out.


	9. Chapter 9

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

 

“So…” Mark started, shutting the bedroom door. It was already so late that he wasn’t sure if he would even fall asleep anymore. “What did you wanna talk about?”

He sat beside Michael on the edge of the bed. The house only had a couple extra rooms, and they were taken up, so the two had to share one. He mainly slept on the floor, though, not wanting to make his friend uncomfortable.

“I… don’t know how to start what I was gonna say,” Michael shrugged awkwardly.

“I think I know what this is about,” Mark said. He turned his body around and crossed his legs in the bed as he faced his friend. “I want to know what you’re comfortable with.”

“I… Are we a thing now? Is that what’s going on?”

“I mean…” Mark shrugged, avoiding eye contact. He stared at the bed sheets like it was the most interesting thing in the world. “It's hard for me to say this, because I was always scared to. I mean, a lot of people are, but this is different. You’re gay as shit--”

_“Oh god…”_

“Well, the thing is, you’re the only other guy I know that actually accepts me as… _another guy._ ”

“Is that the only reason?” Michael asked.

“Well no. Just the biggest one. I’ve wanted to date a few guys before but they all rejected me when they figured out that… I’m uh… not a guy. I guess.”

“You’re trans?”

“Yeah?”

Michael chuckled. “Kinda figured. That’s okay.”

“See?! That’s what I’m talking about!” Mark dramatically waved his hands about. “Besides… _you’re kinda cute_ ,” he shrugged, crossing his arms.

Michael huffed, amused. “I appreciate that. I guess we can try and see what happens.”

“R-really?” Mark stuttered, too excited for his own good.

“Yeah,” Michael shrugged. “How about we talk about boundaries.”

“S-sure…” Mark nodded. “Anything as to not make you uncomfortable.”

“Firstly,” Michael started. “Don't kiss me. Not unless I do it first.”

“Not fair but I can work around that.” Mark shrugged, “I don’t like being touched _... You know…_ ”

Michael nodded. “Public affection is gross.”

Mark nodded.

“I guess hand-holding is fine, though,” Michael added, remembering how he felt every time Mark had grabbed his hand. He always thought about it, how whenever he let go all is mind wanted was for it to return.

“I think that’s all I’d need to survive, honestly,” Mark chuckled. He watched Michael for a moment. He seemed in deep thought as he just stared at the wall by the door. He turned his head, seeing a mirror. It reflected the bed, but not themselves. It was an odd sight, knowing they sat there on that very bed, but being unable to see themselves. It was like they were vampires. “I appreciate it that you would do this. Ya know… accept me and all.”

“You’re the only person I know who isn’t twenty years older than me, a thought in my head, or myself, so… I don’t think I have a choice anyway.”

Mark huffed, laughing when Michael playfully shoved him. He knew he was just being sarcastic.

“I’m going to sleep though, I’m exhausted,” he shrugged. “Today was long. I don’t even remember half of it.”

“Alright,” Mark stood. “Wanna grab something to eat in the morning?”

“Sure,” Michael snorted. He settled himself beneath the covers, trying to find a better position so he’d actually be able to wake up in the morning and not feel like someone bent him the wrong way.

“I’ll be right back, sorry if the light bothers you,” Mark said.

Michael only shrugged, closing his eyes.

“Can I…”

“I didn’t expect you to sleep on the floor the whole time we lived here.”

Michael chuckled to himself when he felt Mark jump into the other side of the bed. “Thank god,” Mark said, his voice muffled in a pillow. Michael chuckled and turned over, wrapping an arm around Mark and pulling him closer, burying his face in his hair.

 

**↞ ♡ ↠**

 

“Hey, Henry,” Mark greeted the man who stood in the kitchen putting dishes away. Mikey sat at the bar writing on a stack of papers, listening to the music coming from his earbuds. He decided not to bother him. “Mind taking us somewhere to eat?”

Henry turned his head to look over his shoulder. “Why?”

Mark shrugged. “Because we probably don’t know where anything is. And we wanna hang out.”

“We?”

“Uh, yeah. Michael and I.”

“Sure. Don’t expect to stay for long less you plan on walking back here on your own,” he said, placing a plate in a cupboard before closing it and grabbing a pair of keys.

“That’s fine.” Mark laughed awkwardly. “Might need to call him down, though. He likes to take his time.”

“MICHAEL!” Henry shouted, his loud voice bouncing off the walls of the house.

“Huh?” Mikey took out an earbud, and watched the two. “Need something?”

“No, Mikey, you're fine,” Henry chuckled.

“ _What?”_ Michael snapped as he rushed down the stairs, throwing on a jacket hoodie.

“We’re going now or never, so get in the car.”

“Wow we're not gonna take the van?” Mark asked.

“You have a car?” Michael snorted, following Henry to the garage. There was an old vintage gray car parked close to the back wall. “No workshop?”

“Got rid of it. Workshop is out back now,” Henry answered and opened the driver-side door. He jumped in, making sure the other doors were unlocked before starting the car.

“Didn’t think you were one for vintage cars,” Michael mumbled sarcastically once he took his seat in the back.

Henry only shrugged, grabbing a button from the dashboard and pressing it. The garage door behind them slowly began to open.

“That needs to be fixed, too,” Henry mumbled as the roommates cringed from the loud squeaking of the garage door.

“Sounds like someone’s dying,” Mark pointed out.

“You’ll know the sounds of death when you see it occur yourself,” Henry growled, his bored and lifeless expression not changing.

“You mind telling us what happened?” Mark asked, watching Henry carefully. He knew the man was slightly suicidal, just seeing how he went to bed and even when he woke up in the past few mornings. Just the way he carried himself. It was like he was crying for help. But Mark didn’t know what to do about it.

Henry shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the garage until he was in the driveway. He stopped and pressed the button again to make the garage door close. Once it was nearing the floor he continued to back out until he got into the road, shifting the car into drive and driving out of the neighborhood.

Mark wasn’t sure if Henry was going to answer so he decided to just watched the road in front of him, occasionally looking in the rear view mirror to see how Michael was doing. He noticed Henry did the same.

“Are you okay, Henry?” Mark asked, watching the older man carefully.

Henry huffed. “I’m sure you know the answer to that question.”

“Right.”

It was hard for Mark to see how low Henry’s faith had dropped. It broke his heart to see a man like him… _like this_. It was weird to him to see how happy Mr.Emily was, to see how he didn’t mind the world and it’s horrible happenings. But seeing how Emily could turn out from… from whatever happened to Henry. Honestly it was scary seeing two completely different versions of the same man.

“William programmed the older animatronics to clean up his messes,” Henry said, his eyes peeled on the road. “Mine I mean. Our animatronics we built together, the last ones we partnered on… he added features to them I wasn’t aware of.”

“I’m sorry…” Mark mumbled, watching Henry carefully.

“The Circus animatronics,” he said, “they were built to make killing easier. To make him undetected. They’re sent to the scooping room daily, not just for repairs but also to scoop the children out that they capture. It’s a collector, a reservoir, of what he called _remnant_. Your William seems to be on a similar path, yet he seems to have created a more innocent way of doing things.”

“My father hasn't killed anyone,” Michael mumbled. “He was accused but he never did it. He was stuck home working on projects and managing the business. After the spring animatronics were decommissioned, he hasn’t left the house.”

“I wish that were true here,” Henry said, “I saw that man turn very quickly. He’s insane, he just knows how to pretend. And may I add: he’s very good at it. He even fooled me, and I’m someone who’s been through that trick before. Then again I guess I was just desperate.”

“You miss him?” Mark asked, his voice low like he was trying to make sure he didn’t spook the older man.

“I miss mine. I haven’t seen him in so long. He went to go collect the suits to rebuild them, but he never returned.” Henry sighed. “I assumed he just left. He was accused and the authority was hot in his trail. So he fled.”

“Emily said you were hoping this lure would help find him?” Michael asked, noticing they passed down the alley they had encountered the Freddy from last night.

“There’s a possibility. He most likely did something stupid and triggered the spring locks. If anything, the animatronic would take the bait and travel to the lure.”

“Normally I’d ask how that would work, but seeing how that broken down Freddy seemed to get to it on the next night I don’t even think I should ask,” Michael said, mostly to himself. “What makes those things so attracted to it?”

“It’s a combination of the robot’s programming and the spirits trapped inside them,” Henry said. “The robots are programmed to hunt down specific noises and phrases. But the spirits inside them are angry. They’re all so disturbed. Whatever noises the animatronics are after the spirits just intensify their hunger for it.”

“Sounds fun,” Mark said, looking out his window.

“This place sound okay?” Henry asked, slowing down.

“Fine with me,” Michael shrugged, looking at the exterior of the pub. “I don’t care as long as they have food.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

Henry parked the car, locking it when everyone was out. He walked over to Mark and handed him a card. “Max it out and I’ll kill you.”

“You’re… giving me your debit card?” Mark asked, carefully taking the blue card. “Why?”

“You don't exactly have money on you. And you’re not exactly registered here as actual people,” Henry explained, “and if you paid with your actual cards you’d be fined for identity theft.”

“Right because our counterparts technically have the same ids and cards as we do,” Michael mumbled to himself.

“Thanks, Henry. I assume we'll part ways?”

“Michael has my number, text me if you need anything,” Henry said and walked to the pub, disappearing behinds it’s doors.

“Where you wanna go?” Michael asked, taking out his phone. “Hope there’s a place that still serves breakfast here.”


	10. Chapter 10

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

 

That night, Michael and Mark stayed back at the house to watch over Mikey and make sure he was okay. Mikey didn’t approve of it, but he didn’t mind the company.

Mikey shrugged uselessly, opening the fridge door. “We have leftovers,” he mumbled.

“You seemed so nice the first morning we met you,” Michael pointed out.

Mikey closed the refrigerator door and walked over to the roommates, placing a container of noodles onto the counter. “Acting classes,” he said while taking a clean bowl out of the cabinet. “Noodles?” He asked, reaching into the cabinet.

“Yes please,” Mark mumbled.

Mikey huffed and took a fork, using it to scoop out the leftover noodles into two bowls. He looked up at Michael who just shook his head. “Not a noodle person.”

“You’ll go to hell for that,” Mikey sneered playfully, pointing the fork in his counterpart’s direction. He closed the container and returned it to the fridge. “Wish we had a bigger microwave,” he mumbled to himself when he took one of the bowls and placed it into the microwave and started it. “Also I don’t know what y’all think you’re here for but I don’t need anyone to babysit me,” he pointed the fork at them, accusingly this time.

“We’re not here to babysit you, Mikey,” Mark said. “Henry’s just concerned about you is all.”

Mikey laughed sarcastically. “He’s just a heartbroken old man who doesn’t know how to let things go.” The microwave beeped loudly, signaling that the noodles were done. He grabbed a hand towel and used it to carry the bowl to Mark. “Noodles,” He grumbled, placing the bowl in front of him.

“T-thanks.”

He nodded and place his own bowl into the microwave, starting it and turning back to the two.

“Psst! Michael!” Michael heard. He turned his head towards the stairs, seeing Plushie peek his head around the stairs.

“Plushie,” Michael hummed, watching Plushie warily look around the kitchen. “What are you doing? How’d you get here?” He stood up and walked over to the small golden bunny, picking him up.

“I jumped through the mirror after you guys!” Plushie giggled.

“You could’ve gotten hurt,” Michael frowned. He glanced over at Mikey, noticing the dead silence. He had his wide silver eyes locked onto Plushie, fear and hatred burning deep within them. He had been slowly opening one of the drawers in the counter and taking out a steak knife. Michael raised a brow at him.

“You let that thing come any closer to me and I’ll cut you both into pieces,” Mikey growled lowly, waving the knife around threateningly.

“Jesus, dude,” Mark spoke, mouth full of noodles. “What happened to you?”

“He won’t hurt you,” Michael defended. He wasn’t offended or anything, whatever was causing Mikey to freak out like this was definitely something to be careful about. “He’s just a tiny annoying bunny. What happened to make you so freaked out?”

Mikey huffed, a small smirk pulling on his lips. His crazy silver eyes still pointed at Plushie as he slowly inched himself closer. “I guess I don’t mind showing you,” Mikey whispered. “It’s in the basement.”

“We won’t die down there will we?” Mark mumbled, setting down his fork.

“Not unless you turn all the lights on,” Mikey said and walked past them, of course still being cautious of Plushie. He didn’t put down the steak knife — he still held it tightly, even if his knuckles began to turn white. He opened a door closer to the foyer. It’s the first door when entering the house. “Ladies first,” he said, motioning to the stairs that led below the house.

Michael groaned and walked down the stairs, followed by Mark and Mikey. There was no light for the stairway, so Michael made sure to be cautious as not to fall, especially since he still held Plushie. Actually it was more like Plushie was gripping him than it was him holding the bunny. He didn’t mind though, Plushie’s presence in his arms kept his heart from racing.

As he reached the bottom, he waited for Mikey to get down to he could turn on the lights. When he did he almost died from a heart attack, and seeing Mark’s reaction he knew he wasn’t hallucinating.

One light was turned on, that was all Mikey said was needed. That light lit up a small portion of the room, the other part not lit up was overshadowed by four eight-foot-tall animatronics. They were… so large. Their furs were matted, stitched in a similar style to Plushie’s, and also torn in places that exposed sinew and parts of an endoskeleton.

“Wh… what are those?” Mark whispered, standing as close to Michael as possible.

“Nightmares,” Mikey grumbled. “They were created by my father as _punishment_ for something I don’t remember doing.” Michael noticed his counterpart’s hands were shaking. He went to say something, but Mikey continued. “ _They’re not all here._ ”

 

↞ ♡ ↠

 

“They should automatically record,” Henry said, watching as Emily climbed up the stage and approached one of the animatronics. “If not I’ll definitely see to fix that.”

Emily grabbed his phone and a cord, connecting the cord to an open hatch at the back of the Rockstar Freddy’s head. He connected it to his phone and opened up an app.

“What are you doing?”

“Downloading any recordings this thing happens to have. I might even be able to connect it so we can look at any live recording whenever we want,” Henry explained.

When the download was finished, he took the cord out and flipped a switch. Immediately, Freddy began to move just like he normally would during showtime.

“No harm done!” Emily smiled and pulled his phone up, pressing a button on the screen. In mid-turn, Freddy turned off. His eyes were half lidded, showing off his red eyelids as he was halfway through blinking.

“Impressive,” Henry clapped a couple times before crossing his arms. “I guess your side is a bit more advanced than we are.”

“If William released more technology than what he already did, then I’m sure the world would be a few hundred years past this one,” Emily said as he began to do the same thing he did to Freddy to Bonnie. “I think he kept all his machines disclosed because of that. Such a sudden release would cause the world to fall behind. We’d probably destroy ourselves if we aren’t careful.”

“What kind of stuff is he capable of?” Henry asked, watching as Emily tested out Bonnie as well before turning him off and moving to Chica. “We didn’t really talk much about technology, it seemed to stress him out a bit.”

“I’d imagine,” Emily said. “Especially after what happened. But uh, yah he’s (I’m assuming) capable of creating hyper-realistic robots. After seeing that HUSK and what those things can do, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had any evil intent with them. Especially after hearing about yours.”

Henry hummed.

“He built this one animatronic. A remodel of Golden Bonnie,” Emily started. He turned Chica on temporarily, seeing if she’d move around like the others. When she did a couple moments that weren’t too janky or harsh on her servos he turned her off. “He’s pretty realistic looking.”

“Hey check out what we found!” Jeremy shouted as he and Mike burst through the door. Well… Mike just followed along. On the dolly that Jeremy was pushing was a large clown-looking animatronic. Her body was smooth, but many places were worn and looked like were replaced with other parts from older incarnations. Her arms were strapped to her sides, and one was a large metal claw.

“Is that…” Henry started, approaching Jeremy and the robot. “Is that Baby?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy chuckled. “Wasn’t expectin t’see ‘er, ya? Me neither. Even took damage.”

“Did she attack you?” Henry asked, grabbing one of Baby’s vibrant pigtails. “Is this wire?” He mumbled to himself.

“Nah,” Jeremy laughed. “She behaved pretty well.”

“Well, just use the tapes, see if she responds. If she doesn’t then throw her out,” Henry said, wiping his hands on his jeans. “We don’t have infinite storage and if Liz was able to move on then we don’t have to help a soul whose not there.”

“Okie,” Jeremy huffed. “C’mon, Mike, you gonna be my bodyguard tonight.”

“Sounds fun,” Mike rolled his eyes, following Jeremy to one of the back doors.

“Baby?” Emily repeated once they were alone.

“Circus Baby,” Henry answered. “William made her along with the other Circus and Funtime animatronics for Circus Baby’s rental. They’re rented out for parties weekly. They’re also the ones built to kill easier and keep him from being detected.”

“That’s insane,” Emily mumbled. “Also she’s terrifying.”

“She didn’t used to look like that,” Henry shrugged. “Albeit she still scared me visually, but that was still a design I will prefer over that one. Whatever happened to her that is.”

“Hey,” Emily started, sitting himself down on the edge of the stage. Knowing the animatronics were safe to be around, he knew he’d be fine sitting a couple feet by one. “You think you can let us explore the basement tomorrow?”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking you’ll find but sure,” Henry shrugged. “Just only turn one light on. There’s stuff down there that’s sensitive to bright light.”

_“That’s comforting…”_


	11. Chapter 11

**Please comment, leave kudos,  bookmark, subscribe to me if you like this so far! Make sure to leave feedback, it's extremely helpful and motivates me and tells me what I'm doing wrong/right.  
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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**     
 **\- language use**

 

Henry, the next morning, woke Emily up and led him down the stairs. Mikey was already awake and working on some papers. He looked up from his work and stared at them with a raised brow. 

“Up so early today?” He mumbled. 

“Have the others seen the basement?” Henry asked. 

“Yeah, last night.”

“Are they all there?”

Mikey didn’t answer at first, but his expression also didn’t change. It was hard to read a man like him, but Henry never complained. Maybe he got it from his father. Or maybe it was just something he learned to do it from his acting classes. 

“No,” he answered. “I assumed you did something about them.”

“No,” Henry frowned, “if a couple are gone then I guess Will used them for parts.”

Mikey shrugged and stood from the bar and walked over to the door. He opened it and descended the stairs immediately. 

“I guess after last night he knows what he’s looking for,” Emily shrugged and began to follow where the other man had gone. 

“He likes to act high and mighty,” Henry said, “he just likes to make you think he’s not scared. I know he is though. After living with him for so long I can pick up in a lot of signs.”

“What signs are going off now?” Emily snorted. 

“He’s usually not this quiet. He’s been cautious since the other night,” Henry said. “I don’t blame him.”

Emily nodded and squinted When they reached the basement. It was still dark, but with one light on he could still see on one side of the room. He couldn’t tell what was making these two worry so much as there was nothing here. 

“Henry,” Mikey said, his voice quivering. He grabbed onto Henry’s arm and pulled him down the rest of the stairs. Henry didn’t seem to mind, he looked more confused than furious. “H-Henry, th-they’re not here!”

Henry looked around, confused. He grabbed Emily’s arm and dragged him closer before he turned all the lights on. “What the hell?” He asked when he noticed the entire room was barren. 

“Th-they were there l-last n-night, I-I-I remember!” Mikey said, he seemed pretty on edge. His voice wavered to the point where he sounded like he’d start crying. “Y-you can just ask Michael and Mark. Th-they saw them, t-too!”

Henry huffed and pried Mikey off his arm so he could look around the basement. Mikey stood closer to Emily, but didn’t make a move to latch on. Emily huffed and lightly patted the younger man’s back, hoping it’d comfort him just a little. 

Emily wasn’t sure what they wanted to show him, or even why Mikey was freaking out so much. But he knew it had to be important since when he patted Mikey’s back, he noticed how badly the man was shaking. He’s had to concert Mikey multiple times, even Michael actually, and he knows that the man is due to have a panic attack if he was shaking this much. He hesitated for a second before wrapping an arm around the smaller man and pulling him into a hug. He wasn’t too surprised when he accepted it and wrapped his arms around his torso. 

It was weird how this Michael was actually taller than his own. He was also a lot more frail, like he almost never ate. But he knows he eats, he’s eating all the time. When he thought about it, he was afraid he had some eating disorder. 

“Hey, what the hell?” Henry mumbled from across the room. 

“What'd you find?” Emily asked, still holding Mikey in his arms. He seemed to have calmed down a bit, no longer shaking, so he loosened his grip on him. 

“It’s a door,” Henry said, feeling around the wall. “Mikey, go grab the others, and get my toolbox.”

Mikey nodded and whispered an awakened thanks to Emily before rushing up the stairs. He walked over to Jeremy who was passed out on the couch and slapped him hard on the face. 

“Ow! Dude!” Jeremy shouted, jolting up into a sitting position, holding his face. “What the hell?!”

“Can you watch over the house while we’re all gone?” Mikey were. “Just shoot me a text if something suspicious happens.”

“Whatever,” Jeremy growled and laid back down. 

Mikey huffed and rushed up stairs. His heart was beating wildly, knowing those nightmares are no longer there. But he knew they were, the others saw them. He walked into the guest room, seeing Michael and Mark in bed holding one another. He didn’t know how people can do that — to be able to sleep in someone else’s arms and not have a heat stroke or something. 

“Michael,” he whispered, shaking his counterpart’s shoulder. “Wake up.”

“What’s up, Mikey?” Mark asked, moving to prop himself on his elbow. “Something wrong?”

“Wake Michael up. Henry found something in the basement,” Mikey said. “The nightmares disappeared.”

“Shit…” Mark mumbled. He quickly grabbed Michael’s arm and shook him. “Get up, dumbass!” He shouted. 

Michael groaned, “Jesus…” He cracked his eyes open and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “What’s going on?” He asked once he spotted Mikey. 

“Apparently those nightmares we saw last night are gone,” Mark said, “and Henry found something.”

Mikey nodded and left the room. Going into Henry’s to find his toolbox. Lately he’s been making small projects, so he’s kept his tools in his room. He grabbed whatever tools and scraps that were lying about on his desk and threw them into the toolbox on the floor before closing it and grabbing the handle. He walked back into the guest room to check on the roommates. Michael we sitting on the bed, ready to go, while Mark had been shirtless putting on what looked like a bra? 

“Oh is that a binder?” Mikey asked. 

“Huh?” Mark turned around. “Oh, yah. Sorry about th—”

“You don't have to be sorry. I think that pretty cool,” Mikey shrugged. 

Mark flushed, embarrassed, and put on a shirt. 

“I’d y’all need any extra clothes, I have some,” Mikey said with a shrug, “ I wear things three times my size so I don’t think y’all will have any trouble with it.”

“Thanks,” Michael snorted and stood from the bed. “Other than shit, how are you feeling today?”

“Shit. I almost had a panic attack when discovering the nightmares are gone.”

“They’re what?!” Mark squeaked. 

“Yeah…” Mikey huffed. “Henry found what he said may be a door. So he wants us all to explore if we can. It shouldn’t be too bad.”

“You say this about a man who may possibly be the smartest person alive,” Michael frowned.

“We don’t know which one though,” Mark pointed out, “We don’t know how smart Mikey’s is.”

Michael huffed. “Let’s just go. There’s no way we’d know if we didn’t do it in the first place, right?”

Mikey nodded and left the room. Walking down the stairs and then turning to walk down the basement stairs as well. He saw, at the far end of the room, that Emily had grabbed a chair so he could reach higher. “Find it yet?” Henry asked.

“No. I think it ends at the ceiling. Like it's its own wall.” He jumped down from the chair and moved it away. “Sure its a door?”

“Yes,” Henry frowned. He looked over to Mikey, waving him over. 

“You found a door?” Michael asked, reaching the basement. “Is that where you think those things went?” 

“Has to,” Henry said, opening the toolbox Mikey gave him and taking out a chisel and hammer. “They can’t just evaporate.”

_ “Fredbear could…” _ Mikey mumbled, watching the floor with wide eyes. “I remember he’d show up on the far end of the house but still be in my room at the same time.”

“I think you were just hallucinating,” Henry frowned even more. He turned and started chipping away at the wall with the chisel. A small clink could be heard when part of the wall fell away, revealing a sheet of metal.

“Guess I was right,” Emily chuckled. “Look like another wall.”

Henry hummed and continued to chip away up and down the wall before moving and doing the same to the other side. “Start peeling away at that, will ya?”

“Emily nodded, and as he started to peel away at the wall, Michael and Mark came over to help. Mark grabbed the chair and started peeling away at the top of the wall while Michael helped at the bottom. It was a long process, seeing as the drywall had been pretty hard, possibly multiple layers. When they got both sides off they were all, needless to say, confused.

“This asshole…” Henry growled. 

“I know this!” Mikey said. “It’s in one of the buildings. It’s a scanner. It should open if it has you registered.”

“Will it work for you” Henry asked, stepping aside. 

“If it uses the same software as the doors at Circus Baby’s then maybe,” Mikey hummed and placed his hand on the far right of the door. A small beep came from the door before it slid open. He looked at Henry, nerves on end, and said, “Ladies First.”


	12. Chapter 12

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use  
** **\- uhoh**

 

The door led into another room, the walls completely white. The coolness of the room was most likely result of the walls being the cool metal the door was made of.

“I take a bet that Emily’s Will did this,” Mikey huff, stepping forward.

The room was mostly barren besides the coffee tables, a couple sofas, and a few decorative plants. There were even picture frames of interesting locations hung up about the walls. It looked like a lounging or waiting room. There was another door on the far wall, the same as the one they had passed through. Mikey wasted no time and walked across the room, around the sofa, and placed his hand on the door. It opened just like the other one had.

Henry approached the center of the room, picking up a piece of paper. He grunted and handing it over to Emily who quickly read it. “How do you know it’s mine?”

“Your William never calls his son Mikey and doesn’t have a nickname for me like he does you,” Henry answered and left the room, passing by Mikey. He seemed to be in more of a rush than anyone else.

“What’s it say?” Michael asked.

“There’s a room he wants us to visit,” Henry said, “It’s important… I guess.” He folded the paper and stuffed it in one of his pockets. “C'mon… I’m sure it’s not too far away.”

“You sound worried,” Mark noted, following Emily out of the room. “What was on that paper?”

“Nothing you should worry about,” Emily said. “My only question is, who the hell is Dave?” He asked when they caught up with Henry.

“I’m not sure,” Henry grumbled. He stepped aside to let Mikey open the door. “But this is your room. I’ll be exploring a bit more, I’ll shoot a text if I find anything of interest.”

Emily nodded and watched Henry leave down the hall. He assumed the man just wanted to be alone while he contemplated the situation. He’d be a bit confused too if there were a secret finished passageway of rooms and halls under his house. He wondered how long this hallway was here.

He stepped into the room, seeing how empty it was aside from a single desk and a few extra doors. He knew the doors led to closets seeing as how close they were together.

“Uh,” Mikey started, picking up a few pieces of paper off the desk. “Emily you might wanna see this, it’s from William and I think it’s written for you and Michael.” His voice shook slightly, but not enough to be concerning.

Emily grabbed the paper, scanning over a few lines before reading it out loud.

 

_Em, if you’re reading this, that means you’ve found me. Or at least, you’ve come very close to finding me. I apologize for bringing you here like this, it wasn’t planned to turn out this way. I wanted a normal life, just like everyone else. But it seems people like me can’t have that._

_In an attempt to escape from the clutches of our society, I made a mistake. I overlooked components in machines and calculations that could have me killed. Let alone found out._

_I beg of you to forget about me. And I will say this so many times. Please leave and never think about me again. I understand the way I left you and Michael was inappropriate, and I apologize for that. If I could still cry this page would be covered in tears knowing that I would never be able to see my family again and knowing of the mistakes I’ve made to cause that._

_But before you leave, or even think about continuing your hunt, I have something important for Michael. I was hoping you’d at least still watch over him, or visa versa._

_This room has three doors. Each door contains things Michael will need to live. You may also — if he so wishes — remove the chip from the back of his head. There should be instructions on one of these pages if you are unsure as to how._

_I didn’t want him to know, it would ruin his mind. But I’ve worked on this for so long, my main motivation was to keep him alive. The note that was written to me before his death was not written by him, it was not his handwriting and it was not in his words. I do not know who did it, or what influenced it, but since then I’ve devoted my entire life into putting him back together._

_Cassidy is too far gone to bring back and I’ve learned that the hard way. If you’re still wondering where the first one went, I had burned it while it was still amalgamated. I burned it before it could escape. It will no longer be our problem and I hope those spirits have found rest._

_While still on the subject. Michael was more of a success than I thought. He’s more human than I could ever be._

_In short, Michael is a HUSK—_

 

“what…” Michael mumbled, eyes wide as he stared at Henry. “ _I’m what?!”_ He could already feel the tears threatening him.

Emily continued reading, although much slower now.

 

_Again, I apologize. I wanted none of this to happen and I wanted Michael to never know. But he has to in order to stay alive without my help._

_He may already have experienced certain events pertaining to his body. The voices, the leaking… everything that happens to him when something not of our worlds occurs in his presence. That is all his sensors overloading. His body may not be able to handle certain things, albeit he’s more advanced than anything I’ve created. He was my priority after all._

 

“God…” Michael mumbled, stepping away from everyone. “God… no I can’t be. D-does that mean? _Oh god…”_ he covered his mouth with his left hand, and gripped his chest with his right. “Mike and Jeremy… they were just… _they weren’t even a part of me to begin with.”_

“Michael…” Mark placed a hand on the other man’s shoulder, trying to get him to calm down.

“No,” Michael shook his head and backed away to the wall. How did he not know? How did this even happen? Why…? “No. Please.” He slid down the wall, holding his head in his arms. He didn’t want to look at anyone. Not anymore. _Not while he’s like this._ He could already feel the tears streaming down his cheeks.

At least he could still cry.

Mark sat beside him on the floor, wrapping his arms around Michael’s shaking form. “I know it sounds crazy, Michael,” he whispered, laying his head in his hair. “But you don’t need to worry about being a weird robot guy. You’ll still my friend. I still care about you a lot and I’m not gonna let a few wires and gears get in my way.”

Michael shook his head, his body racked with grief. “H-how? I’m a monster. I always have been. _How can you even be around something that could kill you at any second without any warning?”_

“This thing says you weren’t built with that mechanism,” Emily said, flipping through the papers. “And if you want we can get rid of that chip in your head.”

Michael took his head out of his arms, raising it to stare at Henry. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, albeit not that much.

“This thing says it’s right at the nape of your neck,” Henry said, placing a finger on his own neck where the diagram showed it would be on Michael. “It just requires a precise touch and we can take it out.”

“I have tweezers,” Mikey said, pulling out a pair of small tweezers from his shirt pocket. “Don’t ask, I just have them in case I need to mess with the handy unit.”

“I don’t know what that is. But sure,” Michael shrugged. Sure, he wasn’t crying now but he knew he’d spend the rest of the night doing just that. He needed to get out all this confusion and stress.

Mark walked over and sat next to him, watching as Henry joined him and sat in front of the distressed man. He gave Mark the diagram and placed a hand on his knee. “I’m really sorry, Michael. I had no idea any of this happened.”

“It’s fine I just… I have a lot to think about now.”

He felt Michael’s fingers press against the nape of his neck. He was expecting to feel something weird, like feel a piece of him fall off or something. But he didn’t. He did feel it when Mikey used the tweezers to pick out something, which caused him to whimper. It felt just like when he tried to remember something. It felt like the scratching at the back of his brain trying to erase whatever was beginning to form.

“I’ve seen this before,” Mikey mumbled, turning the small disk around in his fingers. “I saw this in the Freddy at work.”

“Really?” Emily asked, patting Michael’s knee. Michael sighed, shaking slightly as he let Mark hold him. His eyelids were beginning to grow heavier and heavier.

“Yeah. I don’t know what they’re for,” he said, turning it over and using the tweezers to pick at the edge. “But I have a feeling they messed with the robots a lot.”He got the disk to pop apart on one side, revealing a small motherboard and a few wires connected to a small keypad. “Thank god for tiny tweezers,” He mumbled.

“Hey this might be it,” Mark whispered, noticing Michael had fallen asleep in his lap. The man shook slightly, but it wasn’t anything concerning. He was probably just still unconsciously freaking out. He handed the paper to Emily. “It says the disk resonates a frequency that alters certain brain waves or something. I don’t get what that means but maybe that’s how it’s erasing certain memories?”

Emily shrugged, reading over the paper. “William was always more knowledgeable about how the brain worked than I was. It was something he worked on constantly. Seems it paid off, too.”

“So does Michael still have his own brain?” Mark asked. “Or does he happen to have a memory system similar to the animatronics and he just uploaded memories from his old brain or something?”

“That’s an elaborate question,” Mikey huffed.

“I’m just curious.”

“Uh, guys,” Henry’s voice echoed down the hall. He appeared by the still open doorway. His face reflected that of worry; something he usually doesn’t publicly show. “I found a thing.”

“So did we,” Emily responded.


	13. Chapter 13

 

**Please comment, leave kudos,  bookmark, subscribe to me if you like this so far! Make sure to leave feedback, it's extremely helpful and motivates me and tells me what I'm doing wrong/right.  
** **I even try my hardest to reply to as many comments as I can <3**

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**   
**\- language use**  
**\- Character Death  
** **\- uhoh**

Michael awoke, staring up at the ceiling. The ceiling fan being the only thing keeping the usually warm room somewhat livable for him. He sat up in the bed, confused. He didn’t remember ever going back home. _Was he just dreaming all of that?_

He looked around the room, the surroundings confusing him even more. His room was set up just like it was before he left for college.

_“What the hell is going on?”_ He whispered to himself, moving to stand from the bed.

He froze in place, hearing someone knock on his bedroom door.

“C-come in?” He stuttered, gripping one of the bed sheets for support.

His door opened slowly, but it didn't squeal like it usually did. Part of him felt like that might've been an error in his brain, unless that squeaking of the door was something that usually happened whenever he returned during his college years.

“Good evening, Michael,” a large golden bunny spoke as he entered the room. A long light tail, almost the color white, dragged across the carpet soundlessly. The tail was just hair, so Michael doubted he could move it easily. His golden fur turned a dark yellow-green as he reached the room, seeing as it was nighttime and the lights were off. Although his silver eyes glowed in the darkness.

“Who are you?” he asked, staring up at the (possibly seven-foot-tall) golden bunny. “What are you?”

The bunny smiled and sat beside him on the edge of the bed. In the smile, his lips had pulled up to reveal large triangular teeth. That’s definitely going to appear in his nightmares now.

“I am called Betsu,” He said, his voice oddly calming. “I was created to specifically protect you and your father. Which is why I'm here.”

“What are you protecting me from?” Michael frowned.

“In the sense of your father, I protect him from himself. For you, I protect you from humanity.”

“That’s some philosophical shit that I don’t care for,” Michael grumbled.

Betsu leaned back, closing his eyes. “Of course.”

Michael would’ve questioned him before for he felt a sharp pain in his upper back. He cried out but a large furry paw covered his mouth. Betsu leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “My offer still stands, Michael.”

Michael jolted awake, the dull pain picking at his back before it faded away.

“Whoa, there,” Mark chuckled, patting Michael’s back.

“What the hell happened?” Michael asked, looking around. He was back in the white room with Mark, Mikey, and Emily. Henry even returned.

The door slid open and a large golden bunny walked through the doorway. “Good evening, Michael,” he smiled, “It’s nice to see you alive and well.”

“You!” Michael shouted, backing farther into the wall. “ _You…_ get away from me!” His silver eyes were wide with animosity as Betsu stepped closer.

“What’s the matter, Michael?”

“It was you!” Michael growled.

Mark grabbed his arm, pulling him into a hug to keep him from killing someone or even having a panic attack. “Michael what’s going on?”

“It was him!” Michael cried, tears falling down his face. “He’s the one who killed me! He started this!”

“W-what?” Mark stuttered, staring back at the large bunny who had a nervous smile, showing off his large triangular teeth. He wasn’t sure how it happened, but Michael had noticed the layer of fur and skin protecting Betsu’s neck had been removed, possibly ripped off, as a layer of complicated red muscle-tissue wrapped around his neck instead. He briefly wondered if it still had moisture.

“It was in an attempt to protect you from humanity,” Betsu chuckled. He definitely had the same mannerism as William, now that he thought about the encounter before they had passed through the mirror.

“By taking mine away?!” Michael accused. “What would father have done if he knew it was you?”

Betsu leaned down, causing Michael to lean further into Mark who still had a hold of him. Betsu’s smile freaked him out the most, the way the corners of his mouth reached his ears that folded back threateningly. And how his silver eyes looked just like his father’s as the white pupils showed nothing but the lack of his own morals. “If your father cared enough then I wouldn’t be here, now would I?”

Betsu huffed through his nostrils when Michael didn’t answer and stood up straight.

“Anyway. I’m only here to check on you all,” Betsu said, moving to walk to the exit door. “I see you found a way to get around on your own, so I’ll leave. I was here to make sure y’all don’t get into trouble.” He turned around outside the doorway and spoke lowly, “there are nightmares about.” The door closed in front of him.

 

↞ ♡ ↠

 

The dripping of the water leaking through the holes drove him nuts the most. He couldn’t remember how he got here or even where he was.

Stupid robot. Always getting him into situations he’d rather not be in.

Once he was able to see again, as his vision began to fade back in, he noticed he was in a cold damp alleyway. A buzzing noise behind his skull — if he were to focus on it — kept him still and caused static to prick at the corner of his vision.

A shadow blocked his view of the road, so far away. His thoughts now disturbed, he flicked his eyes upward, staring at the owner of such shadow. Part of him was enraged that someone was there, taking up his beautiful view of a few rodents skittering by the wet glossy concrete.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be this run down,” the man said. Now that he noticed, as the man took a step forward, his legs seemed to be an irregular shape. When it connected with the concrete, it sent a clang that shuttered through his frozen body.

He went to speak, but all that came out was the sputtering of a few servos and pistons grinding against his lungs.

“You’re run down,” the man said, “how are you no longer in pain?” He didn’t wait for an answer as another figure appeared, shadowed by the light of the moon behind it. “I have a proposal for you.”

He watched intently as the second figure neared him. The way it walked seems human, but as he focus on the person he realized it wasn’t a person at all. It gave off a low hum of a frequency his muddled brain was all too familiar to; besides the voice of the other man who spoke in such a way it almost felt like déjà-vu.

“This will help you. Seeing as you are now, I assume you’re strong enough to use it,” he said, waving a hand to the second figure. “If you weren’t, I’m sure your soul can wait a few minutes.”

He let out a struggled grunt when the second figure grabbed him by his arms and lifted him off the ground like he was an abandoned doll. He stared at the smooth surface of the figure before he noticed and heard the all too familiar noises of springlocks snapping.

He didn’t get out much of a response when the chest of the robot burst open and three spears pierced his mangled corpse. The pain, something that he thought he’d never feel again, raided his system. His mind could think of nothing other than: _FUCKING SHIT THAT HURTS!_

The pain, along with his consciousness, faded very quickly. Almost like it was being sucked out of him through a straw.


	14. Chapter 14

**Please comment, leave kudos,  bookmark, subscribe to me if you like this so far! Make sure to leave feedback, it's extremely helpful and motivates me and tells me what I'm doing wrong/right.  
** **I even try my hardest to reply to as many comments as I can <3**

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**    
**\- language use**

 

Mikey opened the three doors in the room, revealing multiple things that just made Michael sick to his stomach. One of them was a husk. It was taller than him, around the same height as Mark actually. Another one had spare body parts and mechanisms. The third had clothing and extra disguises.

“I don’t know what he expects me to do with that,” he growled, pointing towards the husk, “but I assure you it’s not gonna involve me using that thing.”

“I’m sure you don’t have to,” Mikey huffed. “I think it’s just a just in case kinda thing. Like if your body now shuts down or something. Or you can use it for parts.”

Michael hummed and grabbed the two chest plates, pulling them open. They snapped apart along with the other plates covering the lower torso, revealing the hollow inside. It looked just like the one he took apart, aside from what looked like an extra fuel tank in the chest. He guessed that maybe he really wasn’t built to kill like the others were.

He looked at his right hand which still held one of the plates open. He pulled it back and looked at it, turning it to face his palm upwards. “I guess the mannequins were built for me to take apart anyway.”

“You took the thing’s arm?” Mikey asked, watching his counterpart. “I had to completely rebuild mine.”

Michael turned to him. “It was more of me rushing before Mark realized I was in distress.”

“Hey,” Mark frowned. “You did that when I was living with you?”

Michael shrugged. “I was quick with it, I didn’t bleed anywhere.” He paused for a minute before correcting himself. “But now that I think about it I guess I couldn’t bleed anyway. Wow… _I can’t believe I’m that stupid.”_

Mark rolled his eyes, lightly patting his partner’s shoulder. “If you came to me about it I’m sure we would’ve figured out this robot thing a bit faster.”

Michael lightly swung his hand at Mark’s arm, letting out an annoyed huff.

“It’s the evening,” Henry said, “we should probably get going before it hits midnight.”

“‘Cause of the nightmares?” Emily asked, watching the door.

“I don’t think they can get through any of the doors?” Mikey suggested, not sure of himself.

“Seems like Betsu can,” Henry said, “that guy just snuck up from behind me and showed me a room. Thought he was gonna kill me.”

“I’d be careful about facing your back to him,” Michael said, eyeing the mannequin in the closet some more. “Anyone have a giant knife?”

“I have a screwdriver and that’s it,” Emily mumbled. “Why?”

“My arm has been acting up la—”

“We are _not_ cutting off your arm!” Emily shouted, staring at Michael with hard eyes.

“I never said you had to,” Michael huffed.

“We don’t have anything that could help you,” Henry said. “Just take what you need. Whatever you can’t grab we can come back for later. We need to scope out the alley before it gets too late.”

Emily nodded as the two turned and left for the door. Oddly enough, it opened for Henry when he placed his hand on the surface, so they left.

“You have a knife?” Michael asked his look-alike.

Mikey nodded, grabbing a pocket knife from his pocket and handing it over. “What are you doing?” Mark asked as Michael removed his hoodie and rolled up his right sleeve.

Mikey stepped closer to his counterpart, watching as he took the pocket knife and sliced his skin on his wrist, dragging it up his arm. He handed the knife back to Mikey, who just watched him, dumbfounded. Mark himself just wasn’t looking, he seemed to look sick when he glanced at his boyfriend’s direction.

Michael didn’t mind, he slid his fingers inside the cut and (despite feeling everything at an intense level) pulled it apart. Where it wasn’t cut it tore like a thick fabric, having to be tugged off from where it connected through joins in his wrist as fingers. He placed the synthetic material on the table by the note William had left behind. He didn’t remember Emily putting it down, but he assumed he just wanted to be alone after reading it.

Honestly he would too.

“So it’s true,” Mark whispered, taking Michael’s right hand, moving it so he could observed the metal patchwork. The patchwork wasn’t messy, in fact it was very clean, even the hand that he had originally replaced before was put together like it took an entire day for each piece to be welded.

Mikey huffed, wiping the blade of his knife on his pants before closing it and shoving it in his pocket. “C’mon. Else Henry will yell at us.”

 

↞ ♡ ↠ 

 

“I’m nervous,” Jeremy growled, bouncing his leg. “I’ve never been this nervous before.”

“Not when you asked Mike out?” Henry snorted, shifting the van into park. “Also stop that you’re shaking the van.”

“Oops,” Jeremy snorted, opening his door and jumping out.

“Why’s he nervous?”  Emily asked, leaning forward.

“Oh,” Henry shrugged, “he just realized he might die one day doing this is all.”

Henry got got out of the van, ignoring the concerned look he got from the other man. Emily turned in his seat, seeing Mark and Michael about to leave.

“You two be careful, okay?” He said, “I don’t think I could handle losing one of you.”

“We’ll be fine,” Mark chuckled, jumping out of the back.

“You worry too much,” Mikey mumbled, resting his head on Emily’s shoulder.

“I just don’t want any of them hurt.”

“I get that.”

Jeremy pushed the dolly down the alleyway, Henry walking beside him with a flashlight. “This is the first time you wanted to join,” Jeremy said, glancing up at his boss.

“I just have a gut feeling,” Henry mumbled. “I still haven’t gotten a ping from one of the bots, so I just want to see what’s here tonight.”

“Makes sense I guess. What’d y’all find down in the basement?” He asked.

“We figured out I’m a robot,” Michael growled from behind him.

They stopped closer to the end of the alley. Henry had decided to inspect whatever was there while Jeremy turned to the two partners. “Wow, really?” He asked, looking down at his arm. “Damn!”

Michael shrugged like he was indifferent on the subject. He just wanted to sleep everything away, wake up and see that it was just a dumb dream. But he knew it wasn’t and that’s what salted him so much.

“Jeremy!” Henry gasped, “it’s him!”

“What!?” Jeremy shouted back, walking quickly over to Henry’s side. “Oh my god,” he mumbled, covering his mouth and nose once he saw, and smelled, the rotting corpse in front of them.

“What the hell is that?” Michael asked, attempting to shield Mark with his arm when he tried to step closer.

Henry knelt down, placing a careful hand on the bottom jaw of the suit. He pulled it down, looking inside the jaw. “That’s definitely him…” Henry frowned. He ignored the tears threatening to fall as he saw the decaying body inside the suit, two metal spears locking his jaw in place with the bottom jaw of the faded golden bunny suit. He let go of the suit, and looked up at Jeremy. “We can set up some tests, but with the looks of it he may be completely gone.” He stood and headed for the van.

“H-how does he know if he’s gone?” Mark asked, stepping forward.

“I’m sure he would’ve said something if his jaw was handled like that,” Jeremy shrugged, bringing the dolly closer. “But if the tapes don’t get him to wake up then we’ll just have to burn him with the rest. I don’t think Henry would just throw him out.”

Mark nodded and watched as Michael and Jeremy (hesitantly) picked the corpse-robot up from the ground from under his arms and strapped him onto the dolly.

“God… he’s tall,” Mark mumbled, looking up at the robot in front of him. He was struggling to breath around the corpse, having to cover the lower half of his face with his shirt. Although this man smelled so bad he could taste it.

It’s not a good taste.

“I never saw him in person, so I just assumed he was around Henry’s height,” Jeremy shrugged, making sure the rope was tight. “How tall is the other one?”

“You’d have to ask Emily,” Michael shrugged. “But from eyeballing it, I believe they’re the same height.”

“Maybe this is why Bonnie is always so tall,” Mark mumbled. “Wasn’t he the tallest?”

“Maybe they were trying to stay on-brand because of Will’s height,” Jeremy chuckled, grabbing the handles of the dolly and pushing it down the alley. “Then again I think all the robots are pretty tall.”

They reached the van and hoisted the dolly into the back with Henry’s help.

“Would it be too much if we did the tapes here?” Jeremy asked. “Like in the van?”

“If he's still alive it would be risky,” Henry said, jumping out from the back. “But if you so please, then do so.” He shut the van doors and left for the driver’s seat.

“Are we actually going to do it here?” Mark asked, sitting next to Michael in the back.

“Yeah,” Jeremy huffed in amusement, taking out a clipboard and paper from its perch on the wall along with his phone from his pocket. “I don’t know how well this will sound from my own phone, but I’m sure if it’s close enough to him he might hear it.”

“What is that thing,” Emily asked, his voice wavering. He knew exactly what it was, just not what was in it.

“Henry’s dead boyfriend,” Jeremy said blankly.

“We weren’t boyfriends!” Henry shouted from the front.

Jeremy hummed sarcastically, setting down the phone and sitting on the floor in front of the other two men.

“So he’s just… _dead?”_ Emily asked, watching the mangled corpse-robot over the seat. He held Mikey close to him who seemed to be shivering from a cold, or maybe just the presence of a possible-most-likely-undead serial killer that was once his father.

“Guess yours is lucky y’all decommissioned those spring bots,” Jeremy huffed, opening a recording in his phone. “But quiet now, I’m going to start this.”

He grabbed his pen and his play on the device. It took a second to start. Henry’s voice echoed in the back of the van once it started.

 

**Begin tape recording 1.**

 

A series of gumbled noises played throughout the recording. Although, if any of them listened closely enough, they could hear things from what sounded like the daytime hours back at Freddy’s.

Michael on the other hand wasn’t having it. He scooted backwards as pain shot up his head. There was something in the back of that recording that messed with his brain. It brought static and the dull scratching back, despite having gotten rid of the chip earlier.

“Michael?” Mark asked, wrapping his arms around his friend who seemed to be cowering away from Jeremy. Jeremy didn’t really care that much. In his arms, Michael was shaking like a leaf. He had his head clutched in his hands as he tried to curl into a ball. “Jeremy stop that recording,” Mark growled, tapping Jeremy’s back with his foot.

Jeremy huffed and pressed pause and looked over his shoulder, seeing Michael curled up in Mark’s arms with wide silver eyes. “What the hell happened?”

“I think those tapes mess with him,” Mark said, holding Michael tightly. “It would make sense seeing as he was, apparently, built by the same man who built killer robots.”

“Must be a frequency thing,” Emily said, still peering over the seat. “I know William had a weird thing with certain frequencies and said that the robots might trip on them, too.”

“There’s… something in that recording,” Michael mumbled. “It’s not right. I can hear it but I can’t grasp what it’s saying.”

“You think Henry is someone to hide shit in simple recordings?” Jeremy asked. “He’s not that deep.”

“If he learned anything from my dad,” Mikey said, “it’d be to keep things under a layer of hidden messages. Maybe we can test the recordings out later?”

“I’d rather not,” Michael swallowed, wrapping his arms around his partner. “Not again, please.”


	15. Chapter 15

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**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

_Michael walked down the stairs, stretching out his sleep. He walked into the kitchen, wanting to grab some coffee but stopped, seeing another man sitting at the bar. “Henry?” He asked, “why are you here? You’re never here this early.”_

_Henry shrugged, sipping some coffee while he worked on some paperwork. “You’re father needed me last night so I stayed here.”_

_“Oh,” Michael hummed. “What happened?”_

_“Just another freak out,” Henry shrugged. “He should be fine now, though.”_

_“What happened?” Michael asked, walking up to the man and sitting on the stool beside him._

_“He's been getting texts from your mother,” Henry said, watching Michael with careful eyes._

_“Is she okay?” He asked, worried. He hasn’t seen his mother since he was… he wasn’t sure actually._

_“No… no, not that one,” Henry mumbled, awkwardly fiddling with his pen._

_“W-what do you mean?”_

_“You uh… Rosy isn’t your mom, she’s like…” Henry hesitated. “Rosy’s your stepmom. You’re actual mother left you and William when you were a few months old.”_

_“Wh…” Michael swallowed, staring at Henry. “A-are you sure?”_

_“Y-yeah. You see…” Henry waved his hands around, searching for the words he was looking for. He was trying to be as careful as possible, not wanting to hurt Michael. “You’re mom wasn’t too psyched to be having a kid, so when you were born she sort of just… left. Thankfully we were all in England at that time, though. So when that happened William and I made sure to raise you there with your grandmother before moving back here. And thankfully Rosy and William had found each other again after what like… a long time. Many years. They hit it off and she promised to help raise you and then years later when you were like… older than five or six they got married.”_

_“I get it,” Michael growled._

_“I’m sorry I thought you’d know this,” Henry shrugged. He still watched Michael with a worried and cautious gaze._

_“So in short…” Michael spoke, slowly mulling over the information. “I wasn't wanted. I-I was a-a mistake.”_

_“Michael,” Henry whispered and stood from his seat. He wrapped his arms around the teenager, holding him tightly when he began to cry in his shirt._

_“How could she do that?!” He sobbed. “Why would she even consider being with someone like him if she didn’t want a family?”_

_Henry shrugged, chuckling lightly when he thought about it. William always was someone who wanted a big family. It really was odd that he married someone like her — a person who wanted nothing to do with a person younger than her. Was she into older men?_

_“What’s going on?” William asked, rushing over to the two when he saw them, placing a hand on his son’s back. “Michael, are you are alright?”_

_“I told him about Rosy,” Henry said, letting Michael go. “Sorry.”_

_“No, don’t be sorry it’s okay, I should’ve said something sooner,” William said, immediately hugging Michael when he was out of Henry’s grip. “Are you okay, Michael?” He asked in his hair._

_“Y-yeah,” Michael stuttered, wiping the tears out of his eyes when William let go of him. “I just hadn’t realized how much something like that would mean to me,” he mumbled._

_“I understand,” William frowned, rubbing circles in Michael’s back. “I had a lot of hardships with my family. Mainly because my father never really was around me or my mother much. But he was a terrible person in the first place. But that doesn’t matter right now.”_

_“Why?”_

_William shrugged. “He’s dead now so it’s not like I care much about him and what he does.”_

_“You still have unfinished beef with him and it’s hilarious,” Henry snorted, taking his seat on a stool again._

_“Don’t judge me and my inner turmoil!” William laughed, lightly jabbing Henry in the arm. He looked over to Michael, and patted his shoulder. “Doing alright?”_

_Michael looked up, seeing the awkward smile that was always on his father’s face. He nodded._

_“Of course,” William laughed awkwardly. “Michael, you mean more to me than anything. If you need anything, just come to me or Henry, Okay?”_

_Michael smiled sadly. “Thank you.”_

 

↞ ♡ ↠

 

“Hey, Henry…?” Michael mumbled, opening the bedroom door. Emily sat on the bed, sifting through a box beside him. It was most likely the one they had nabbed from the basement. “You busy, or?”

Emily looked up. “Uh, no. You okay?” He asked, patting the bed beside him.

Michael walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. He glanced inside the box, just seeing files stacked on one another. Maybe it was left for him. “I just remembered something last night,” Michael shrugged. He wasn’t sure if he should’ve told Mark at all about it, but he didn’t want to wake him up.

“W-what’s up?” Emily asked, turning in his spot to face the younger man.

“I just… remembered about the conversation you, William, and I had about my mother…” Michael shrugged uselessly, not looking at Emily. “I just wanted to say thank you for still sticking with me. I-I don’t know what Father is up to, but I know there’s something wrong in his head. I’m more scared for him than I am of my own safety or even what he could do.”

“Me, too,” Henry mumbled, reaching out to place a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “We’ll get through this, okay? And we’ll figure out what’s going on.”

Michael nodded. A small smile forming on his lips as he finally looked up to Emily. “Thanks, Henry.”

“Of course,” Emily smiled. “Now help me go through these,” he said, grabbing a bunch of files and handing them over. “I wanna know what Will’s been up to this whole time.”


	16. Chapter 16

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**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

His chest felt like someone just shot him a million times and left him on the ground to die. Then again it’s not like he’s never felt like this before, just not concentrated on one point.

He went to speak, but the only thing that came out was a garbled mess of groans.

“It’s been a while since you were able to talk,” a man to his side said. He went to turn his head but something kept him from moving. Now that he thought of it he couldn’t even move the rest of his body. He tried his arms but they were clamped down. “It will take a bit to get used to this, less you're smart. And stop moving, your arm is damaged enough. Dumb robot…” he started mumbled to himself. “ _Can’t believe the stupid thing actually broke down that wall. Dumbass…_ ”

There was a long pause, but as he started to concentrate on what the man was doing, he started to feel something picking at the inside of his arm. He used what he imagined was small tweezers and pulled on something in his arm. Doing so made his fingers clutch, but not on his own.

“Sorry, I’m just testing to see if your muscles still work after being damaged like that. A lot of your tendons in this arm were severed and I had to repair them before you woke up.”

He groaned. “Bullshit.”

“At least you can speak,” the man chuckled. “What are you called?”

It took a second, but after concentrating he was able to get a name out. “Dave,” he growled.

“That’s the most normal name I’ve ever heard,” the man said, leaning over Dave. “I’m William,” he smirked.

Dave gave him an odd look. Not being able to move his head just made him look goofy. “Where the hell am I?” He asked quietly, glaring at William’s wide silver eyes. His eyes looked like they were glowing in the dim room, but that was probably just his brain messing with him.

“Basement,” William said. Sitting back in his chair and unlocking one of the cuffs on Dave’s hand. He also leaned slightly closer and unlocked the cuff around his neck and other arm.

Dave sat up, looking around. The pain in his chest had faded without him noticing. _“Of?”_

“Your place,” William said. “Hope you don’t mind a secret passageway to one of the buildings.”

“How’d you even get the time for that?!” Dave shouted.

“You were gone for fifteen years,” William said, his brows furrowed. He ran a hand through his dark hair, combing it to part it to the side. “I’ve only been here for ten.”

“You work fast.”

“It’s good to work fast. Although because of that I ran into certain complications,” William said, standing up. His decisions seemed to be panicked. “I almost ran out of time to bring you back. I almost had one of them killed. I—”

“You should calm down,” Dave said blankly, just watching William pace. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but you’re freaking out too much. I say don’t worry about it,” he wave his hand about as he spoke, “the worst thing that could happen is you dying. Even then I feel like you wouldn’t even care about that.”

William stopped, turning to Dave. He had an odd smile on his face that even freaked the _him_ out. “You’re right,” he mumbled. “I need to get work done.” He walked up to Dave with long strides and uncuffed his feet. “Holler if you need help.” He walked off, and towards a door by one of the walls. It opened for him automatically, but it didn’t close when he was away from it. Maybe he didn’t want it closed.

Dave growled, shifting his body so he could slide off the bed. Was it even a bed? He didn’t really care too much. He mainly cared about what was going on. He doesn’t even remember how he got here, or even how he got to that alley. He clicked his tongue, glad he was out of that rotting cage. He hoped for good.

He pushed himself off the bed, stumbling a little when he landed on his feet. They clanged like metal on metal when he took a shaky step forward. They felt weird. He never stood this high like this. He was so used to human feet… or more used to the metal appendages he had to deal with before. At least he wouldn’t have to limp anymore.

It took him a bit, maybe a couple minutes, before he was able to walk normally again. He paced around the room, thinking. He didn’t get a lot of time to himself before a door opened nearby. A large golden bunny walked through the doorway, his long tail dragging on the floor behind him.

“Good evening,” he said, bowing his head slightly, his large ears flopping forward as he did so. “I am Betsu.”

Dave didn’t say anything. He was more concerned about why he looks like a giant Golden Bonnie than he was worried about who or why he was here. He watched as Betsu neared him and leaned down.

“Do you know what I am?” He asked, his voice low. He watched Dave with half-lidded silver eyes and a big lazy smile that showed off his large triangular teeth.

Dave huffed, raising his chin in defiance. “Why is that important?”

“You look curious,” Betsu said.

“Don’t harass him, Betsu,” William said, walking in with a box. “He’s got enough on his plate now.”

Betsu hummed. “Of course.” He stood up straight and took a step back, watching William sift through files with a blank stare.

“Any updates while you’re here?” William asked, opening a folder and flipping through some pages.

“The nightmares are ready,” Betsu said, “and we have visitors.”

William looked up from the papers and at Betsu. He stared for a minute before saying, “Oh. Just warn them about the Nightmares. Don’t let them anywhere near us. And make sure they leave before seven.”

“Of course,” Betsu bowed his head slightly before turning and leaving the room. The door slid closed behind him when the tail was out of the way.

“Visitors?” Dave repeated, watching William walk up to him with a folder of papers. “And the nightmares still work? I thought I trashed those.”

“No. I fixed them,” William said, handing him the folder. “That has all their new stuff. And they seem to be hunting us both down, so we can leave when they do.”

Dave laughed sarcastically, “The hell do they want me for? I’ve been dead for fifteen years!”

“Well you see…” William started, stepping closer to Dave. “You see, you happened to murder a bunch of children over fifteen years ago (maybe even sometimes after as well) and your fuckbuddy, Henry, seems to want you burnt to shit.”

“Psh. Not my problem,” Dave snorted, crossing his arms.

“How about you do a thing for me?” William suggested, reaching into his turtleneck collar and pulling out a pocket knife. “If they don’t leave by the time you see them, scare them off.”

Dave took the knife and flipped it open. “Aight. What time?”

“Wait an hour,” William shrugged. “I want that knife back when you’re done with it. And clean!”

“It’ll be so clean the next time you see it that blood will just slide right off.”

“You’re full of nonsense.”

Dave smirked maniacally, the smile looking too big for his face. “I think it adds to my charm.”


	17. Chapter 17

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**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

 

Michael sighed, opening the fridge and taking out one of the leftover drinks. “I can’t believe he just rushed off like that,” Mark mumbled, laying his head down in his arms on the bar.

“It’s not like he broke up with you,” Michael snorted, walking around the bar and sitting next to Mark. “Besides, I don’t know what’s got him so excited but I assume it’s important. He’s usually not that happy.”

Mark shrugged. “Was it just Henry and Jeremy?” He asked.

“Yeah, I think Mikey and Emily are sleeping.”

“Are you sure about that?” Mark asked, pointing at the staircase when Emily was rushing down it. “What’s going on, Em?”

“Have y’all seen Mikey? I can’t find him.”

“He’s not sleeping?” Michael asked, watching Emily run over to the garage door and check the room.

“No, I checked,” Emily said, closing the garage door. “And I know he’s not with Henry. I also checked the attic.”

“Basement?” Mark suggested, pointing to the basement.

“Call Henry before. He might actually have him,” Michael said, taking a sip from the water bottle he grabbed earlier.

“Yeah. Yeah you’re right,” Emily said, taking out his phone. “Maybe I'm just overreacting.” He took a minute, waiting for his counterpart to answer his call. “Uh, Hi Henry is Mikey with you?” He asked, pacing around the kitchen. “H-he’s not? Well I can’t find him in the house so we were going to check the basement… If you think he’s over there then check. Shoot a call if you find him.” He stuffed his phone in his pocket and looked over at the two roommates. “Henry’s going to check Circus Baby’s.”

“That’s… You think he’d be there?” Mark asked skeptically.

Emily shrugged and headed towards the basement door. “There should be a flashlight on that bar,” he said, pointing to Mark’s direction.

Mark grabbed the giant flashlight, testing out if it worked. So we actually going back?” He asked, “What about the nightmares Betsu spoke about?”

“I’ve never seen them in person,” Henry shrugged, opening the door when the roommates walked up to him. “So I doubt they’ll be a problem.”

Michael looked at Emily oddly. He knew he was just trying to be optimistic, he’s always like that. It’s definitely something he missed seeing after listening to Henry all the time. He needs a bit more positivity in his life, especially after earlier that day.

They descended the stairs, turning on the basement lights one one by one, just to make sure the nightmares hadn’t returned. When they knew it was safe, Michael walked up to the door and placed his hand on the cold surface. It quickly slid open, letting them through.

It was odd seeing the room dark. The lights were all off, the only thing lighting their way was Mark’s flashlight. “Didn’t think the lights turned off.”

They approached the door. “Mikey said they’re sensitive to light,” Michael warned, opening the door.

“Great,” Emily mumbled, watching as Mark pointed the light down the hallway. It was empty and still dark. The flashlight was strong but it barely lit up past fifteen feet.

“If Henry was able to get around,” Mark said, “maybe Emily might be able to open doors, too.”

“Good idea,” Emily mumbled and followed the roommates out of the room and towards the door they had been through hours ago. Emily placed his hand on the door and almost immediately it slid open for him. “Nice,” he chuckled to himself and stepped aside for the roommates to enter before him. The door closed behind him, quickly drowning them in dark silence.

Mark waved the flashlight around, trying to light up as much of the room as possible. “I wish there was a way to turn all the lights on,” he complained.

“Me too,” Michael said, “although the flashlight is really helping me see the rest of the room. I don’t see anything important in here.”

“Okay so,” Emily started, “now we all know Michael has some kind of enhanced vision. Because this room is pretty dark, even with the light.”

“Oh,” Michael said. “Oops.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Should we split up so those things don’t get us as easy or?”

“I can split,” Emily said, “since I can open doors on my own, I can probably go ahead of y’all while you explore.”

Michael stepped closer to Mark. “I don’t think splitting up is the best idea,” he said, “especially if killer robots might be lurking.”

“Maybe if Emily can advance faster than us, it might be better,” Mark said. “I’m not a fan of splitting either, but if Mikey is in trouble we might have to in order to find him before he gets hurt.”

Michael didn’t say anything more. He just nodded and watched the door for a moment. He swore he heard something. Mark and Emily fell silent when they noticed him watching the door.

“Do we need to hide?” Emily whispered, slowly taking a step away from the door.

“Behind the desk,” Michael whispered back, pointing at the desk at the other side of the room when he heard it again. “Those are footsteps. Something is patrolling.”

The three quickly moved across the room and sat on the floor behind the desk, making sure they were all away from the doorway. Emily was suspicious of Michael. He wasn’t sure if he was just hearing things or if he was actually right. The only thing he could really hear was his own heartbeat in his ears which just got more and more loud the more he thought about it. What if there really was something out there? What is it? Did it get Mikey? Will it get them?

His thoughts were interrupted when Mark turned off his flashlight just in time for the door to slide open. He whimpered slightly when Michael shifted his body to peer around the desk. Mark didn’t argue, instead he leaned into Emily who gladly held him in his arms for support.

Michael, peering around the desk, nearly had a heart attack when the doorway had been blocked out by a large silhouette too big to actually pass through. The most noticeable features of the shadow were its tiny top hat and bright red eyes with white pupils that served as its own flashlights.

He slowly leaned back to Mark and Emily, looking at them with wide eyes. He wanted to speak. To scream. Maybe even cry. But any option would get them all killed. Sure, he wanted to die a little but he wasn’t about to drag the others down with him — intentionally or not.

He jumped slightly when something touched him. But when it wrapped what felt like fingers around his hand he calmed down. He looked over to Mark and cracked a small worried smile when he saw him wrapped up awkwardly in Emily’s arms. He squeezed his hand for support.

He let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding when he heard the door shut and saw the light from its eyes leave with it. No one moved until Michael did. He only did when he knew it was far enough away to not be a danger.

“What was that?” Mark asked when Emily let him go. He still held Michael’s hand, afraid he’d run off after it.

“It looked like Freddy,” Michael said, “but… larger?”

“How big?” Emily frowned.

“He couldn’t fit through the doorway, and the top hat was almost at the top of the frame,” Michael explained. “You could probably fit a person in there.”

“That’s… why is that the first thing you compare its size to?” Emily asked, watching Michael with wide eyes.

“W-well…” Michael stuttered, “apparently that’s what Freddy was built for in Circus Baby’s so how am supposed to know?”

Emily huffed, defeated.

“Are we still going to split?” Mark asked, tightening his grip on Michael’s hand.

“Might as well,” Emily said. “A bigger group would get us seen by that thing easier.”

“If you really think so,” Michael said, “now’s the time.”

Emily nodded and stood. “Don’t worry,” he said, taking out his phone. “I have a flashlight here. So I should be fine.” Michael nodded and shooed him away. He huffed and quickly made his way to the door, opening it and jogging down the hall.

“I hope he’ll be okay,” Mark mumbled.

“He should be,” Michael said, slowly taking a stand. “I have a plan to keep him safe.”

“And what’s that?” Mark asked, watching him walk over to one of the closet doors and opening the one that had the HUSK in it.

“First I need this arm,” Michael said and jerked the right arm of the robot off. He walked over to the desk and placed the arm down and took off his shirt. He opened one of the drawers, finding a knife and grabbed it. He had a feeling William would have left a knife down here for him if he really wanted him to use the mannequin for parts. He always thinks ahead.

He took the knife and sliced his skin around his shoulder. He used the cut to rip off the last of the material off. “There should be a screwdriver in there,” he said, pointing to another drawer.

Mark opened the drawer and grabbed one of the tools. “This good?” He asked. Michael nodded and took it, trying to get it in the joint of his shoulder. “Do you… feel that at all?” He asked, watching Michael forcibly jam the screwdriver in his joint until he heard a click.

“Yeah,” Michael said, letting go of the screwdriver and taking hold on his right arm instead. He pushed his arm until it disconnected with his shoulder joint. The only thing that was still connected was a few sinew and wires. “Mind helping me?” He asked, gesturing to his shoulder with his head. “Need the wires taken out from the arm.”

“Oh, okay,” Mark mumbled, reaching towards the wires. “They should come out right?”

“Yeah, they’re just plugged into a cylinder in my arm,” Michael said, watching Mark pull the wires out from their places. He took the arm and placed it onto the table. “Might wanna help me with this one, too,” he chuckled at Mark’s displeased grunt.

Mark took a hold of the wires, and plugged them into the mannequin’s arm when Michael held it close enough. Michael pushed the arm into the socket, motioning for Mark to hold it there. Mark grabbed his arm and held it while Michael grabbed the screwdriver that was still jammed into his shoulder joint and yanked it out. He grabbed the top of his arm and shoved it into the joint.

The arm clicked in place. Mark let go of it so Michael could move it around and test it out. “Does it work okay?” He asked while Michael stretched the arm.

“Perfectly,” he chuckled, moving his fingers individually into a fist before flexing.

Mark clicked his tongue, lightly slapping Michael’s arm. He didn’t mind the pain creep his palm when it made contact with the cold surface of his new arm.

Michael slid his shirt back on before grabbing Mark’s and pulling him closer so he could kiss him. “Thank you,” he smiled when Mark gasped and blushed.

Mark, to his partner’s surprise, quickly wrapped his arms around Michael’s neck and pressed their lips together.

Michael parted the kiss with a small chuckle. “I don’t think this is the best place to do this.”

“No,” Mark whispered, face red like a tomato. “We still need to find Mikey. And figure out what your plan is.”

“Right!” Michael laughed nervously. “Here’s my idea: we bring the mannequin out and get that Freddy robot to force itself inside so we can sneak out while it’s distracted.”

“Is that a good idea?” Mark asked. “Would that even work?”  
  
“They’re not my father’s models, I know that,” Michael said. “He wouldn’t create things like those. So they most likely don’t have the mannequins registered in their software.”

Mark took his arms back, away from Michael. “I don’t know what that means but I guess we can try.”

Michael nodded and walked over to the closet, grabbing the mannequin and heaving it over his shoulder. He placed it to the left of the desk and connected his old arm to it. It was a much easier job when he had both his arms available.

“We’ll hide behind here and sneak around the desk’s right side while the robot checks out the mannequin,” he explained.

“Don’t you need it for parts, though?” Mark asked, crouching down to the floor.

Michael crouched beside him  “I can probably last a while. The most it’ll do is tear apart its limbs.” He shrugged. “It’ll just make it easier for me to access extra parts.”

“Will it even come back?” Mark asked taking a hold of Michael’s hand.

“I’m sure it will,” Michael said. “Besides I can hear it when it gets close.”

Mark nodded and pulled Michael closer. “You think you can hold me on our way out?”

Michael hummed and looked him over. He held out an arm once he made up his mind. Mark snorted and snuck over to him, letting him wrap his arms around his body and pick him off the ground. “This is going to be super awkward,” Michael mumbled in his hair, taking the opportunity to hug him tightly. “But if you’re really that scared I can deal with it.”  
  
Mark nodded in his chest, jumping slightly when the door slid open. Michael quickly made his way to the right end of the desk, peering around the corner to see the silhouette again. The red eyes locked onto the mannequin and Michael could see the outline of a large jaw open as the robot released a robotic cry. It pushed itself into the doorway, its sides and arms clanging against the frame. It let out a struggled hiss as it attempted to push itself through the door, red eyes still locked onto the other robot.

It backed up from the door before turning itself at an angle with another robotic hum and shoved itself through. It still had a hard time, but now that it’s arms weren’t in the way it didn’t have as much of a struggle as it did before.

It quickly stomped over to the mannequin and grabbed its sides. As it hefted the other robot, Michael took the chance, holding his partner close to his body, and quickly booked it across the room and through the door before it closed. He set Mark down on his feet with an anxious huff. “You okay?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Mark nodded. “I got a good look at that thing, too,” he said, taking Michael’s hand as he started quickly walking down the hall. “It really did look like Freddy. But he’s huge! And that yellow top hat is so ridiculously small. I wonder if that was added as a joke.”

“I think it was more of an on-brand thing,” Michael said. “Freddy has always had a top hat. I can understand why Mikey is so scared of those things, though. That one is terrifying. Did you see it’s teeth?”

“No I didn’t,” Mark mumbled, deep in thought.

“It’s jaw was huge. I couldn’t see it all but it looked like it was covered in teeth.”

“That really is a nightmare,” Mark mumbled, trying to picture the robot with teeth. He couldn’t imagine Freddy without his harmless square teeth. He didn’t want to imagine it any other way now that he thought of it.

Michael slowed down to a stop, looking around the hallway. “I wonder if Henry’s okay…”

“I wonder if Mikey’s okay,” Mark responded to quickly.

“You don’t have the flashlight,” Michael pointed out, noticing how Mark stuck so close to him.  

“My eyes have adjusted pretty well,” Mark shrugged, looking around frantically. “I think we should keep going.”

Michael nodded and started to walk. He wasn’t in much of a hurry anymore knowing the nightmare wasn’t anywhere near them.

“You think he’d be in one of these rooms?” Michael asked, approaching one of the doors.

He got no response. Nothing witty or even anxious.

“Mark?” He turned around, not seeing his partner. “M-Mark?!” He stuttered, a pit growing in his stomach. “Wh…”

He heard a robot hiss down the hall where they had came from and immediately spotted the red eyes as they lit up its tattered snout and its portion of the hallway.

“Fff-shit,” Michael squeaked and bolted to one of the doors closest to him when he noticed the robot quickly making it way to him. He heard the loud stomping down the hallway, even when the door had closed behind him.

He found a stack of boxes near the corner by the door and hid behind them, leaving enough room for him to sneak by if the robot came in. Even if he were being chased by a giant killer robot, his mind was racing around the possibilities of Mark’s fate. His breathing even quickened the more he thought about it.

_Did one of those things take him when they weren’t looking?  
_

He saw the door slide open and the red lights of the nightmare’s eyes light up the room as the muzzle became visible passed the doorway. It was the only thing capable of passing through. At an angle, he could see the lights of its eyes light up the inside of its head. It was… transparent? The light lit up every wire and metal piece in its framework and even the large individual sharp teeth that littered its massive jaws. The teeth even lined all the way around to the joints that connected the jaws together. _  
_

The more he focused on the robot’s muzzle, the more he began to hear a very faint humming noise. Once he noticed it, he strained his ears to try and decipher if it was trying to tell him something like Henry’s recordings had.

“Holy shit…” he whispered to himself, noticing the surface of the jaws had started to writhe and twist like living flesh. The lights of its eyes lit up every small detail of the surface like the wetness of bloodied flesh and the strands of sinew.

He forced his eyes shut, pushing back the humming from the robot.

When he was sure the noise was out of his mind, he opened his eyes again. Looking back at the snout of the robot, he saw that it was back to its fake tattered fur and translucent black skin.

The door closed with a series of rejected beeping, forcing itself on the side of the robot’s face. The animatronic let out a struggled robotic growl and pulled its face out of the door, allowing it to close.

As he listened for the robot’s footsteps faded more and more, he began to think. He remembered Mikey mentioned the chip in his head was similar to a disk he saw in Freddy at Circus Baby’s, how it released a frequency that messed with the robot. Knowing what those robots were built for, Michael imagined that this “nightmare” has the same disk inside him.

_Was Emily and Mark capable of seeing what he just saw? Was he really the only one who saw what it truly looked like?_

He couldn’t imagine what Mikey went through when he had to deal with the whole gang of nightmare robots.

He stood from his spot and rushed over to the door, placing a hand on its surface and opening it. He jumped out of the room and ran down the hallway, opening every room to see if Mark was in any of them.

He was starting to give up after the tenth door until one of them let out an angry beep and refused to open. He heard nothing from the other side but he still threw a fist at the door, banging and yelling for Mark or anyone to open it.

Suddenly, almost as if an unspoken god answered his cries, the door opened for him. He ran in, seeing no one besides Mark cowering in the corner.

“Mark!” He cried out, running over and dropping to his knees beside his boyfriend. “God… Mark are you okay?” He asked, taking Mark into his arms. “You’re shaking… what happened?” He asked, holding the shaking man.

Mark shook his head, letting out a strangled cry in the older man’s shoulder. “We have to get out of here!” He said, “we have to find Mikey and Emily fast! There’s someone else here!”

“Another nightmare?” Michael asked, looking around the room. Still nothing.

“N-no! No it’s not a nightmare,” he stuttered, “It’s a-a man… a-and he… he—“

“H-hey calm down. We’ll get out of here, it’s okay,” Michael said, picking up Mark and quickly running out of the room. He didn’t bother checking for the nightmare or the supposed man he saw. But whoever it was he was willing to fight them off. He wasn’t going to let anyone lay a finger on his boyfriend, no matter their intent.

Suddenly, out of nowhere red lights started flashing down the hallway as an automated voice of a man (who sounded oddly familiar to him) echoed:

 

**An employee has entered: the scooping room.**

**Please stay clear of the scooping room while it is active.**

 

Michael held Mark tightly against him, the pit in his stomach returning. It only got deeper when the alarms started going off and men began shouting a name he was afraid to hear.


	18. Chapter 18

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**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**  
\- Character Death?  
- Minor gore

 

After having left the room, Emily immediately booked it down the hallway, not bothering when he heard the metallic hum of the nightmare behind him.

He growled. That thing must’ve been making a return to the room. Least he’ll serve as a quick distraction.

He quickly hid in a nearby room, listening as the robot stomped down the hall. He held his breath when he began to hear a faint humming noise. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore it. Trying to push the noise at the back of his mind.

He let his breath go once he heard the robot’s footsteps slowly fade away. That thing isn’t as stubborn as he initially thought it’d be. He didn’t think about it too much when he opened the door and peered down the hallway.

He wasn’t exactly expecting another man walking down the hallway, patrolling like the robot was.

He looked… _familiar_. But something about him was off. He hid back in the room when he saw the man was about to turn around. He hid behind a set of boxes and watched through the open doorway as the man turned and made his way back down the hall in his direction. He stopped near the door, peering into the room before walking in.

The metallic footsteps is what sent Emily for a trip. They were in the same digitigrade style as William’s legs, same with the back toe! He stared at him for a bit, wondering if this was this world’s William. He looked almost nothing like him…

_“I know you’re here,”_ the man whispered. He seemed way too excited for this. He reached into his right pocket and slowly took out a pocket knife. He flipped it open holding it like he was about to shank someone. _“I saw you.”_

Emily’s heart dropped when he saw the man turn around, facing his direction. He had a big toothy smile — too big to look normal or even sane — as he slowly walked towards him, fiddling with the knife in his hands.

Emily’s mind went a million miles per second when the man stepped closer, close enough to possibly see him. He placed his hands on the top box and shoved it forward, causing it and some of the other boxes to topple onto the man and distract him.

He stood and quickly made a run for it, heading towards the door.

_“No!”_ The man shouted and suddenly the door closed with a series of angry beeps.

Emily placed his hands on the door, attempting to get it open. He banged on the door with his hands, ignoring the dull pain crawling up his fingers.

“I’m sorry,” the man said, his voice menacingly quiet, “I didn’t seem to get that.”

Emily turned around, pushing his back against the door. He looked up at the man, getting to see his face clearly. “William?” He asked lowly.

The stranger’s wicked smile twisted into a frown as he gritted his teeth. His silver eyes had been opened so wide he… he looked like a hungry wolf on the hunt and he just found his pray. “Don’t call me that,” he growled, shifting his hold on the pocketknife.

Emily was frantically hitting the door with his palm as he pressed himself further into its surface, trying to hide from the psychotic man in front of him.

_Is this really Henry’s William? Was he always this crazy? What even unhinged him so far?_

As this insane man got closer, Emily began to pray to whatever god was out there to get him out of this mess. He felt like his heart was about to burst through his chest it was beating so fast.

The door suddenly slid open, causing him to fall backwards into another wall. He lifted his head, hearing the low humming and seeing the large body of the nightmare that had been patrolling.

“Come to play, Nightmare?” The man asked, tilting his head.

The animatronic let out a robotic hiss, it’s whole surface vibrating before it pushed Emily out of the way and slid itself into the room.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” the man growled, watching as the robot neared him.

Emily took the distraction as a god answering his prayers, albeit in the weirdest way possible. So he slid out of the door while the man was distracted and started running down the hall again. He wasn’t surprised when the robot slid back out of the door and growled at him like he was going to charge.

He stopped running and turned around, watching as the robot tuned to the door and roared at the man who just simply took its jaws and threw him to the wall on the other side.  

“I know he fixed you to make you better,” he said, approaching it’s face. “But you’re still fucking stupid as shit!” He hissed, taking his foot and stomping on its face. The sharp toes clamped on its top jaw, displacing a few teeth, so he could lift the head off the ground and smash it back down.

His brain told him to keep watching, but as red lights started flashing in the halls he knew immediately something bad was going on.

 

**And employee has entered: the scooping room.**

**Please stay clear of the scooping room while it is active.**

 

_“Mikey!”_

He turned around, seeing his counterpart run to one of the doors. He started banging on it, shouting for the man they came here to find

“Henry…?” He asked, also seeing Jeremy catch up, out of breath. He ran up to the two, glancing back at the man beating the hell out of the animatronic. Pieces of teeth, metal scraps, and bolts had been scattered on the floor as the head continued to be smashed into the ground. The humming had even stopped as well.

“Emily?” Jeremy asked, “weren’t you going in the basement?”

“This _is_ the basement,” Emily mumbled, still watching the animatronic getting _absolutely_ destroyed.

Henry started becoming hysterical, banging on the door and crying out Mikey’s name. Emily had to grab him by the arms and pull him into a tight hug, away from the door.

“No!” Henry shouted, “No! H-h-he’s in there! I know he is! Mikey!!”

“I know but we can’t go through,” Emily whispered, “the door’s locked.”

Henry stopped struggling, wide crystal blue eyes staring at the man behind them. “That door doesn’t open until I say it’s open,” he growled, dropping the robot’s head. “And right now it’s staying closed until I’m done with all of you.”

Henry reached into his jacket and whipped out a pistol, pointing it right at the man. “Whoa, hey!” Emily raised his arms and backed away, “didn’t know you had a gun in there!”

Henry huffed, clicking the gun off safety.

“You’re gonna need a bigger gun than that to even make a scratch on me.”

“I don’t plan on wasting a bullet on scum like you, William,” Henry growled.

“What the hell is that supp—” He fell to the floor, Mark standing behind him with a long metal rod.

“That’s what you get for not respecting someone’s boundaries!” Mark shouted, raising the pole over his head before bringing it down to the man’s own.

The door opened when Emily placed his hand on it.

“MIKEY!” Henry dropped the pistol and ran into the room, Emily followed him. Mark and Jeremy stayed outside, not wanting to leave the man alone or even go into a room that may contain their death.

Michael ran up to the two, struggling to catch his breath. “Who… wh-who the… who the hell i-is that?” he asked between breaths, pointing at the man on the floor.

“The man that took me earlier,” Mark said, “that’s him.”

“Whoever he is he beat the shit out of that nightmare,” Michael shrugged, pointing a thumb over at the deactivated robot down the hall.

A loud bang interrupted them as it echoed down the hall along with Henry’s loud voice.

Mark cursed under his breath, handing Michael the metal rod and running into the room. He nearly threw up when he saw Henry on the floor clutching Mikey, his hand pressed against his stomach. “Nononono,” Henry whispered into Mikey’s hair. “No, no. Mikey it's okay. _Just stay awake it’s okay.”_

“Michael!” Mark called, crouching down beside Mikey and Henry. He placed his hand beside Henry’s, helping him apply pressure to keep Mikey from bleeding out. He could feel Mikey still breathing, albeit very slowly. He was even shaking slightly.

“Wha--” Michael stopped. _“Oh my gods.”_

“Get over here,” Mark said. “I read through some of the note that your dad left. He listed some features you have.” He made a grabbing motion with his free hand. “Give me your hand.”

Michael sat on the floor beside Mark, holding out his right hand. Mark took his hand and pulled off one of the fingers, revealing a needle. “What the hell?” he mumbled, watching Mark take the needle and pull it out. It’s already connected to a thread. “Am I your first aid kit now?”

“Be thankful a maniac thought about this,” Mark said and waved Henry’s hand away from Mikey’s wound.

As Mark was stitching his wound, Henry moved slightly to make sure Mikey was okay and comfortable. At least… as comfortable as dying can get. Emily had left the room, making sure Jeremy was okay with the maniac alone. “It’s okay, Mikey,” Henry whispered, placing his bloody hand on the other side of Mikey’s face, trying to get him to look at him. “Just don’t fall asleep, you’re doing great.”

Mikey went to speak, but he was only able to let out a garbled mess before coughing up blood. “Careful,” Mark mumbled.

“Just keep your eyes on me,” Henry said. “J-Just look at me. N-nowhere else. Just me.” He let out a strangled breath, trying not to cry, when Mikey lifted an arm and grabbed his hand that cupped his face. “You’re… you’re doing great, Mikey.”

“Almost done,” Mark said. “These won’t be forever. We just have to get him to the hospital so he can get real treatment from professionals,” he explained. He tied the wire in a knot before breaking it apart. He placed the needle back into Michael's hand and put the finger back on. “Now we know you’re capable of sewing,” Mark huffed, “you just suck at it.”

“See?” Henry let out a shaky laugh. “See, you did great! Just keep your eyes open, okay? We’re gonna get you to the hospital.” He stood up, carefully holding Mikey in his arms against his body. “It’s faster through Circus Baby’s,” he said, already rushing out of the scooping room. He never wanted to come back, especially like this.

Michael quickly caught up with him, meeting him in the elevator. He took off his shirt, ripped it from the front and walked up and wrapped it around Mikey’s stomach. He tied it in a knot after making sure it was tight enough around him. “He lost a lot of blood,” he whispered, “he’s so pale.”

Henry didn’t answer, he just leaned against the wall and held Mikey close to him. As the others arrived, Jeremy swiped an ID card into the scanner. It was eerie when the automated voice never spoke. It was a quiet ascent aside from the rumbling and shaking of the elevator.

As soon as the elevator door opened. Henry rushed out, jumping into the back of the van. “I’ll drive, I guess,” Jeremy growled.

 

↞ ♡ ↠

 

“Jeremy!” Mark called, seeing Jeremy in the living room.

“What?” he snapped, pausing the show he had been watching. He didn’t seem too happy to be interrupted.

“Where’s Henry? I haven’t seen him since we got back.”

“He refuses to leave Mikey’s side,” Jeremy shrugged. “I don’t blame him. Mikey is the last person left that he actually cared for.”

“W-what about th…the plans?” Mark stuttered, taking a seat beside the younger man on the sofa.

Jeremy scoffed and unpaused his show. “I know the plan, Mark. I know how to do everything. Just leave it to me. If Henry wants to continue it himself, he will. He’s just preoccupied.”

Mark nodded and stood. “Thank you,” he whispered and left the living room and walked up to the room him and Michael shared. He had a lot on his mind, especially after what happened last night. All he wanted was to wash away the guilt and pain he had.

He felt… _unclean_.


	19. Chapter 19

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* * *

**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

 

“How many are left?” Mark asked, sitting at one of the tables beside Emily. They were watching previous recordings that the rockstars had caught.

“Not sure,” Michael answered, examining a new robot. “Em! You know who this is?” He asked, staring at the golden star on its gray chest. It looked just like Freddy on the other stage just gray and red. One of its eyes looked broken, too.

“Jeremy said its name is Lefty,” Emily said. “See? The robot is left handed.”

“I get that,” Michael said. “But why’s it here now?”

Emily shrugged. “I assume this is what they were in such a rush for last night. I remember Henry freaking out and not giving himself time to answer.”

Michael hummed and hopped off its stage. “Guess it’s important then. Anything in the recordings?”

“No,” Emily said. “Just children playing during the daytime and Jeremy being a grump at night.”

Jeremy burst through the door, growling to himself. “There’s nothing out there,” he said. “I think Henry was expecting this to build up more. But honestly I don’t think there’s anything else that’d come by.”

“So that guy last night,” Michael started, sitting on the other side of the table. “Was that William?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy huffed, “assuming from Henry’s reaction.”

“I would assume, too,” Emily shrugged. “How are we gonna get him here anyway?”

“Seeing as that basement connects to Circus Baby’s,” Jeremy started, “We could’ve probably tied him up and brought him with. But that risks him breaking out and breaking our necks.”

“We can probably lead him here,” Mark said. “If not here we might be able to get him to the house.”

“We’re not burning the house,” Emily snorted.

“We can knock him out!” Michael said, “he seemed to get put out pretty easily when Mark smacked him in the head.”

“I can smack you in the same place and you’d be turned off, too,” Mark frowned. “Apparently that guy is a husk, too, else he wouldn’t be getting up again after that.”

“You seem to know how those things work,” Jeremy crossed his arms. “Why don’t you figure it out?”

“The most I can do is tell you how he works,” Mark said, pointing at Michael. “I can only assume William may work the same way.”

“His name is Dave,” Henry growled, walking into the building. His hair is disheveled and his clothes wrinkled. Dark bags hung under his eyes from lack of sleep. Overall, he looked like he wanted to kill someone.

“Oh my god, you look like shit!” Jeremy shouted, running up to him. “How’s Mikey?”

“Good,” Henry said, “but in a bad way. He’s in a coma. We don’t know when —or even if — he’s gonna pull through it.”

“Oh, Henry,” Mark frowned, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Henry shrugged uselessly. “I just need to take a shower and mull over what I should do.”

“So…” Emily started. “That’s Dave then? Your William is named _Dave_?”

Henry nodded. “After leaving the hospital I checked in with the police station. His uniform looked familiar for a security guard.”

“You think they hired a serial killer?” Jeremy huffed.

“He must’ve changed his name when he disappeared and found a job. Since no one had his face no one knew it was him,” Henry explained, “so they hired him as a security guard. He used the opportunity for his experiments and ended up later dying by the springlocks. I talked to the officers there and apparently none of them knew who he was or where he came from. Dave Miller was the only file we could find that matched my William.”

“Sounds fun,” Emily said. “I also don’t appreciate you pulling a gun out like that, by the way. You could’ve shot me!”

“It wasn’t loaded,” Henry huffed, amused.

“So how are we going to get Dave into the building?” Mark asked, picking at the old wood of the table. His other hand was occupied by Michael’s as he had reached across the table to hold it.

“I bought a house on the country road,” Henry said, “he wouldn’t be that stupid to just come here again, especially since he's no longer fused with the Spring Bonnie. So we can ship the animatronics there as well. I don’t have enough gasoline to get two buildings, but an old rundown house is bound to catch one fire at some point.”

“He’s not stupid enough to come here,” Emily said, “but he _is_ stupid enough to go to that house?”

Henry pulled out an object from his jacket and placed it on the table. “They’re looking for this.”

“The hell is that?” Jeremy asked, going to grab it. He hissed and pulled back his hand when Henry smacked it.

“It’s one of the last pre-filled cartridges of remnant that William had,” Henry said. “He had a ton of them for experiments, but whatever robot that had been filling them had stopped working. This is his last one until he has to resort to killing people like Dave had planned originally.”

“So you think if we hide it there one of them might fall for it?” Michael asked.

“We’re not hiding it there,” Henry huffed, “they’d be able to grab it and leave. We’re all staying the night there once we get all the animatronics shipped. We can’t risk them being able to leave.”

“You’re going to burn them both, huh?” Emily asked. He wasn’t too excited about that part of the plan. He wanted to find William and convince him to come back. Convince him to stop. Not burn him to hell.

“If he ends up there yes,” Henry said. “If they’re both there then there’s no way we can separate them.”

Emily nodded. He slowly took the cartridge, seeing that Henry didn’t smack him like he had Jeremy. It was a metal cylinder that was big enough that he almost couldn’t fit it in his hand. Turning it around, he saw an opening in the cylinder, like a glass casing. It had small measurements engraved into the glass. It was completely filled up with black liquid that had a slight bluish tint to it. He furrowed his brows and looked at Michael. “You’ve… you’ve been spitting up remnant this whole time…” he said, his voice low.

“I… I have?” Michael asked, straightening his back.

“He’s been spitting up _used_ remnant,” Henry corrected. “His body can’t handle an entire fresh cartridge, so he runs off of the recycled bits of it. But that’s only if he’s low on everything else.”

“Despite how perfect my father tried to make me,” Michael snorted, “I guess my design is still unfinished.”

“I bet that robot that nightmare beat up was a better version,” Mark smirked. “Maybe it’s capable of more than you are.”

“Oh, well then why don’t you go fuck _that_ robot then?”

“I can’t if it’s in pieces!”

“Y’all’re weird,” Jeremy snorted, crossing his arms.

“We can do the shipping now,” Henry said, “the robots may not be happy but I got a U-haul.”

Emily rolled his eyes.

“We have a dolly?” Mark asked, standing up. “How long will this take?”

“Not long if you have a lighting rod and god-like knot-tying  skills,” Henry responded, taking the cartridge back from Emily.

“I’ll go get the dolly,” Jeremy mumbled, walking out the door.

They made it quick, wasting no time by grabbing the dolly and the electro-rod Henry spoke about and going up into the ventilation system. It was a lot roomier in the vents than they were expecting, but that just made it easier.

Jeremy raised the rod in a defensive position when something echoed down one of the vents. He nodded his head to the side, signaling for the others to stand back.

The laugh echoed again, bouncing off the vent walls. It wasn’t long before the vent rumbled and out launched a tangled mess of wires and metal.

Before it was able to attack anyone, Jeremy smacks it with the electric stick, causing it to seize as blue light flashed inside it. It fell limp to the floor, no longer moving or giggling. Henry huffed and grabbed the mass and lifting it over his shoulder. He left the room, not bothering to strap it to the dolly.

“If these things escape the truck I’m blaming it on Henry,” Emily said using the flashlight to shine down the other vent. “How will we even get them all anyway?”

“There’s not _that_ many,” Jeremy shrugged, he banged the electro-rod against the vent walls, causing a ton of ruckus. “Plus with enough noise we can lure them out. As long as you keep that light in that vent they’ll only come from here.” He started banging the rod against the vent again.


	20. Chapter 20

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**Chapter Warnings:**     
**\- language use**

“What’s this?” Mark asked, poking at an invisible wall. “Glass?”

“Yes,” Henry said. “Thats a room we’re gonna trap them in. Depending on who shows up -- preferably Dave.”

“That's the same glass that we saw William in before we got here,” Emily said.

“Yes,” Henry nodded. “But it's stronger, so one of those HUSKs won’t be able to break through.”

 

↞ ♡ ↠

 

Michael held the capsule, turning it over to see the black gunk through the glass. It was insane… insane that what he was throwing up was remnant -- the remaining pieces of spirits. He felt sick thinking about it. Thinking about how he had just been using up the remaining energy of spirits his whole life. He was using Jeremy and Mike. _Had they not known?_ If they knew… _why didn’t they tell him?_

Henry had given the cartridge earlier in hopes that he could lead Dave or William into this area. His chest tightened thinking about it. His father never did anything wrong. Not that he knew anything about it. With his slowly returning memories and those videos, all Michael knew was that William had been a giant anxious dude who wanted to make people happy. And Emily just straight up refuses to say William did anything wrong. _So maybe he didn't?_ His robots and devices are capable of killing, but he knew that's not what they were originally intended for.

He sat on the floor, his back against the glass. The other side of the glass was the rest of the room and the back door which would lock itself once someone entered from the outside. The others were dumping gasoline all over the building. With them gone he had enough silence to ponder. To think about everything that's happened since they arrived here.

If they never came here, if they never even looked for William. If Mike didn't pestered him about searching. He would have never figured out that he was one of _them_.

He blinked. They _did_ know. They knew all along. Jeremy didn’t want him to know but Mike… Mike was the one who got him into this. He wanted him to know.

_Would he have shut down on day if he never found out?_

Something behind him shifted, making a scraping noise behind his head. The noise caused his ears to ring and startled him so much that he jumped. He turned around, seeing a man moving to sit on the floor, his back leaning against the glass. The noise was caused by the robotic feet of the man as the sharp toes scraped against the floor.

“D… Dad?” Michael whispered, turning around in his spot.

The man turned his head, smiling when he saw Michael. “Hey, Michael,” He whispered, turning around i his spot. “It's nice to see you’re doing okay.”

“Dad!” He pressed his hand against the glass, tears welling up in his eyes. “You can’t be here! You’re trapped in that room, their going to burn you!”

“I came by this side so I wasn’t spotted,” William explained, coming his nails through his hair. “I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“I… Dad, I…” Michael didn’t know what to say. Staring at his father, he just wanted to cry knowing his fate. His whole life he went hating him, but looking at him now. Seeing how William looked at him, he could feel nothing but dread knowing his fate. “You don’t deserve this,” He said, “Dad, you don’t deserve to die. You did nothing wrong!”

“I’ve done a lot of bad things, Michael,” William said. “You’d be surprised if I told you. You did good hating me, it was the right thing. I did so many bad things. Things I regret to this day. I’m just the version that knew how to stop before it got any worse.”

Michael watched him. He couldn’t fathom what William did. But taking context from Dave’s actions and the way some devices were made, he could easily piece it together.

“I want you to know I did all that for you,” he said. “I hated every moment. But if it meant being able to bring you back then I didn’t care. I just hope you and Henry could forgive me.”

“I know who killed me,” Michael mumbled.

“What?!” William sat up straight. “You do?! Who did it? _Who do I have to tear apart for you?_ ” He growled.

That last one sent a shiver up Michael’s spine. He didn’t want to see the animalistic look William had on his face.

“It was Betsu. I remember it so clearly. I got my memory back when we got rid of the chip and Betsu stabbing me was the first memory that returned.”

“Wh…” William visibly deflated, slouching in his spot on the floor. His wide silver eyes staring at the wood below him. “H-how? He was… He was programmed to protect you.”

“He said that what he was doing.” He seemed to be in deep thought for a minute. So Michael just watched him. He wasn’t breathing. He hasn’t been breathing this whole time.

_He’s one, too._

“What did you do?” Michael asked. “Why are you one of them, too?”

William looked up at him, but moving his head. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against the glass. “I killed myself,” he said. “I couldn’t handle it. The pressure, I mean. I couldn’t handle waiting for something to happen to me. So I did it myself.”

Michael sighed. Fiddling with the cartridge in his hand. He didn’t realize William was looking at it.

“I want you to keep that,” he said, catching Michael off guard. He continued. “I don’t deserve to keep living. So you keep it in case something happens. Your life is more important to me than my own, and I’d rather keep you alive for as long as possible.”

“But…”

“Don’t.” William shook his head. “I don’t deserve this life. I don’t deserve a new beginning. But you do. Betsu caused me to force a new beginning on you already, and I can’t imagine what that did to you. But I want you to keep going. You have much more in life to look forward to than I do. Just—” William gasped, taking his fist and throwing it at the wall. _“GET AWAY!”_ He shouted.

A series of chicks alerted Michael. Just before he heard a single loud snap he pushed himself to the side, away from where he had been sitting. In his place, a large spear jutted out and hit the glass. It scrapped it, but didn’t crack it.

He watched, eyes wide, as the spear pulled itself back into Dave’s body. His uniform-jacket has been shredded from the white chest plates opening while it was still on. The plates closed with a click, allowing him to step towards him.

“Long time no see,” he smirked, tilting his head.

“You lied to me,” William growled, hitting his fist against the glass again. “How could you? You wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me!”

“Because I’m not some sick puppy looking for someone to love me!” Dave yelled at him, turning away from Michael. William stood up, watching him silently. “I didn’t ask for your help and I didn’t need it anyway. You’re weak. Pathetic. You trust people too much and that causes you to forget what your goal is. Our goal.” Dave turned around, clenching his fists. “Wh…”

The door clanged, locking from the other side.

“Looks like you got distracted, too,” William mumbled, sliding back down onto the floor. “Maybe that was their plan. To get you in here with me. Lock you inside.”

Dave didn’t answer, he just glared down at his counterpart below him.

“Do you ever feel anything?” William asked, leaning his side against the glass. “Like. Pain? Remorse?”

“I haven’t felt anything in a long time,” Dave hummed, “you know that.”

“How long has it been since you’ve been happy?”

“Stop asking me these stupid questions!” Dave growled, punching the glass.

William closed his eyes. “Too long, I guess.”

Michael leaned against the door, a pit forming in his stomach. He sighed, tears finally rolling down his face. This whole time he was lied to. Emily was lied to. William really did kill using the mannequins. Why would he lie like that? How could he?

“Michael!” Mark shouted, running down the hallway. “Are you okay?” He asked, catching his breath.

Michael nodded. “They’re both in there.”

“Good,” Mark said. “I’m… I’m sorry. We have to go before they set this place on fire. I… I have a lot to tell you.”

“O-oh!” Michael stuttered, lightly grabbing Mark’s arms. “Are you okay?”

Mark shrugged. “It’s… personal. But I should be.”

Michael nodded, letting Mark go. “Whatever it is, I’m here for you.”

Mark smiled at him, grabbing his hand and leading him out of the building. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” he huffed, smiling. They reached the van and opened the back doors, hopping in since they were unlocked still. There was no one else in the van so it was pretty quiet.

“What’s the matter?” Michael asked, surprised when Mark wrapped his arms around him.

“I…” he choked and sat up straight, letting Michael go. “You… you know how I’m biologically female?”

“Yeah?” Michael hummed. “Aren’t you on birth control though?”

“Well… no. It was for my periods, they’re usually petty painful for me. But… uh…” Mark breathed, nervously fiddling with the fabric of Michael’s shirt. “I’m pregnant.”

“Wh!?” Michael leaned back, staring at Mark. “H-How!?”

“I-I… you know how we were i-in the basement? A-a-and I was s-snatched?” Mark asked, not looking at Michael.

“He… but I thought he couldn’t? He’s not organic!”

“He must be in some way?” Mark shrugged. “Listen, Michael we could always—”

Michael interrupted him, grabbing his arms and pulling him into a hug. “I don’t care what you think about me, Mark. Or how you think I feel about this situation. Because whatever you’re about to say, I’m going to say no. Because even if they aren’t mine, I will take care of them as if they are.” He rested his head in his hair. “You got that?” He asked.

Mark nodded, leaning into his boyfriend. “Now what?” He asked. He didn’t know how to think. He would never hurt a small organism that didn't even get a chance. He hated that he even thought about it. But deep inside him, part of him felt he was betraying his identity if he kept it.

But as Michael stroked his side, he smiled. There’s no way Michael would let anyone doubt him and his identity. He’d love him no matter what. Right?

“What the hell is going on here?” Jeremy asked, jumping in the back of the van with them.

“Personal stuff.” Mark huffed when Michael briefly kissed his cheek. “Are the Henrys okay?”

“I think,” he shrugged. “Emily when to go grab him so I assume so.”

“It go up yet?” Michael asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Yeah!” Jeremy laughed. “Went up fast, too! Look!”

Michael let go of Mark, letting the two jump out of the van before him. He followed them around the vehicle, stopping when he saw the building covered in fire. The night sky being lit up by the bright flames.

Mark stepped back, standing next to him. “The scenario leading up to this is sad,” he said, taking the other man’s hand. “But the hope that the spirits are set free and put to rest makes it much happier. In my mind it’s beautiful.”

Michael smiled, squeezing his hand.

“Henry!” Jeremy called, running up to the two men who exited the building. “What the hell happened?” He asked, seeing that Emily had his arm wrapped around his counterpart’s waist, trying to keep him from falling over as the walked towards the van.

“Dumbass here,” Emily grunted, pulling Henry up more. “Decided he’d try and burn himself in the fire.”

“What the hell for!?” Jeremy shouted, shaking Henry. The older man had fallen unconscious from the smoke.

“He wanted to go to hell with Dave,” Emily said, hauling Henry into the back of the van. “I’ll drive,” he said, hopping into the driver’s seat and starting the van.

Everyone hopped into their respective spots. Jeremy in the front passenger, and Mark an Michael in the back enjoying each other’s company in silence as they held one another. They watched through the back windows on the doors as the burning building slowly shrank on the horizon.

Fire trucks, their sirens blaring, sped down the roads and towards the fire. Part of Emily hoped that it would take all night and day for that fire to be extinguished. Or it would become some kind of hell-flame where it never extinguished. Ever. No matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god. I had TONS of fun writing this one!   
> but! It's not over yet. Hope y'all enjoyed!
> 
> (Check out the art for this stuff in my deviantart, or even in my toyhouse (Aeregele))

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading this!  
> I post as daily as I can get in the mornings (MST). If you liked this, make sure to comment some feedback of what you liked or even what I could improve on! It helps a ton <3  
> Also make sure to leave some kudos!!


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